Sunnydale Berserker
by Miklos
Summary: Xander tries to go as a soldier for Halloween but can't. His alternate costume choice has permenant repercussions for everyone.
1. Default Chapter

Xander tried to grab the last toy gun out of the bin but missed it by

a hair. "Damn," he said, looking around the costume shop with a lost

look, "How can I be a soldier without a gun?"

"IS there a problem young man?" A British accented voice asked from

behind him.

"Ah!!" Xander screamed and jumped around.

"Don't do that man, especially in this town."

"I do apologize, my friend, I didn't mean to startle you, Ethan Rayne

is the name."

"No, no, it's ok, just, this town is not a safe place, sorry. Geeze,

are all you Brits so Stoic?"

"I don't believe so, and how many Brits'," he said the word with a

little coarseness, "do you know?"

"Just Giles and he's got the whole Stiff upper lip down to a science."

Ethan almost fell over with the shock of hearing that name but

covered quickly, "Yes well as I said, I do apologize. Now, what can I

do for you?"

Xander looked disappointed at that, "Nothing now, I was after a gun

but that didn't work out, now I've got no costume to wear."

The man touched his chin as if in thought and said finally, "I'll

tell you what, you pick a costume ANY costume you want and if you'll

promise to take care of it, and tell everyone where you got it, I'll

allow you take the costume at no cost."

"Are you serious?" Xander asked, wondering what the catch was.

"Of course I'm serious, I'm a new business in this town and I'm

trying to compete with an established business, good word of mouth

would go a long way to helping me out."

"Ok, you've got a deal." Xander said.

"Excellent," the man said, slapping his hands together, "I'm Ethan."

"Xander," Xander said putting his hand out and shaking it.

"So, Xander, what have you got your eye on?"

"I don't know what have you got that's good?"

"I have an idea," Ethan said. He led Xander to the back of the

store. "I didn't get a chance to put these out yet." He said, pulling

out a box, "Apparently they were some movie props that aren't going

to be used, there's a movie, that's still in the production phase

and, well these were going to be costumes that they use however it

seems they aren't going to for some reason."

"What kind of costumes?" Xander asked, interested,

"I believe the movie is called," he checked the side of the box, "ah

yes, here it is, something called, "The X-men?"

Xander's eyes bugged out, "No WAY, the X-men? Which costumes do you

have?"

"Let's see, I have someone called Rogue?" he looked to Xander who

shook his head, "No that's a girl"

"Hmmm, Cyclops?" Ethan said, not really recognizing any of the names,

but trusting Xander would.

"Hmm, nah, he's a little to stick in the mud for me?"

"All right, how about this one?" Ethan held up a costume.

Xander's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. The yellow and blue

costume had distinctive blue hash marks on either side of it. Xander

swallowed once and asked, "What character is that?"

Xander's reaction wasn't lost on Ethan and he smiled internally as he

said, "I believe the character is called Wolverine'."

Xander nodded once and said, "I'll take it, please."

Ethan nodded and said, "That will be fine, you go on out and I'll

gather the accessories together and have it out to you in a moment."

As Xander left out of the back room, a malevolent, evil glint entered

Ethan's eye. "So you're here in Sunnydale, are you old man?" he said

to no one in particular, "Well, I'll have to give your young friend

something extra special, now won't I?"

Quickly he grabbed the components that he used to curse the costumes

for his upcoming ritual and said a few choice phrases over the

costume for Xander. The resulting enchantment would be much more

powerful for him than anyone else.

"This is going to be a good night." he smiled.

Xander slipped the costume on, it fit him perfectly, adhering like a

second skin. It really showed the muscles that he had acquired over

the last year, fighting vampires and demons with Buffy. He slipped

the boots and gloves on next, testing the triggers in the palms that

released the fake claws from the back of the gauntlets, giving the

illusion that they were coming out of the back of his hands, just

like the character he was dressing as. Finally he pulled the mask on

and then looked in the mirror. This is gonna be great. he thought.

"What are you doing up here?!" the voice screamed at him.

Xander spun around, and the mask was the only thing concealing the

fear on his face, "N-n-nothing dad, the principal is making a bunch

of us take some kids around for Halloween and we have to dress in

costumes."

Anthony Harris stepped up to his son, and Xander shrank back, years

of abuse training him well. "You look like a fairy." he said and

slapped Xander across the side of the head, "Why couldn't you go as

something a little more manly? Too much for you?"

"This was all they had left." Xander said, pleading in his voice.

"Don't talk back to me you worthless piece of shit, I'll…"

"Anthony here's that new bottle you wanted." another voice said

suddenly cutting the man off.

"Well give it here bitch." Anthony said snagging the bottle from his

wife, and pushing her aside as he did. "I'm going to go drink this;

you better have my damn dinner ready soon."

Jessica Harris nodded her head fearfully and then turned to her

son, "Go on, get out of here Xander," she said, "I'll make sure he's

asleep by the time you get home."

Xander nodded and said, "Mom, be careful, he's really mad today."

Jessica nodded and said, "I'll be fine Xander, don't worry, just

please, be careful out there, I don't like you out after dark."

Xander smiled weakly at his mom and then gave her a hug before

rushing down the stairs and out the door.

Logan felt the cobwebs clear a moment after they had begun and he

shook the rest out of his head before he looked around. He definitely

wasn't in Westchester anymore. He could smell the salt air and it

definitely wasn't the Atlantic he was smelling. He smelled

unmistakable odor of the desert, and, putting that together with the

fact that he was hearing English, he made a quick deduction that he

was somewhere on the West Coast, probably California. "How the hell

did I get here?"

He reached for the communicator that all the X-men carried intent on

calling the mansion when he noticed it wasn't there. That tid bit of

information was cast aside as he felt a presence behind him and he

spun, his claws popping out with a Snikt' as he took up a defensive

posture, ready for battle. Instead of an attacker however he saw one

of the most beautiful redheads he'd ever seen, next the Jean. And

this one would definitely give her a run for her money.

"Xander, oh god, what's happened to you?"

Logan looked at the girl in confusion and said, "I don't know no,

Xander girl, but you best get out of here, I smell a lot of trouble

coming this way, and you don't belong out here." Logan reached to

grab her hand so he could lead her to safety, popping in his claws as

he did so. Another shock, in a night of many shocks was his hand

passing right through hers.

"What are you? You phase through matter, like Kitty?"

"Kitty?" the redhead asked, then her face lit up in

understanding, "Oh, oh, I get it, you're, you're Wolverine."

"Yeah, what of it?" he asked just a little defensive.

"Nothing," she said in a little fear, taking a step back even though

she knew in her current state he couldn't hurt her. "I need you to

listen to me very carefully Wolverine. These little demons running

around here, they're not demons they're kids. They've been turned

into demons somehow. We need to find Buffy and figure out what's

going on."

Wolverine looked at her like she was crazy and asked, "Who's Buffy?"

Xander literally collapsed into his bed, paying no heed to the

protestations of the bed springs. It had been one hell of a night.

He's actually BEEN Wolverine, the comic book character. He couldn't

believe it, Then again it's the Hellmouth, of COURSE I can believe

it. He didn't understand WHY he was so tired, he was used to staying

up later than this, but he'd figure it out in the morning. It was

another day tomorrow, and Xander slept…..

And as Xander slept the final remnants of the spell cast by Ethan

Rayne went into effect. This spell was unlike ALL the others, it was

not designed to simply be broken, but instead to make itself

permanent. It had already affected that partially, initiating a

change in its targets genetic structure, a change which had started

in a single cell, and had slowly begun to multiply throughout his

body. It had at first been the magic that let him heal at the rate

expected for who he was. Now however with the change in his DNA

spreading and the un-dissipated magic began to allow the mutation

that was to be his was fully kicking in. First it dispelled all of

the damage done to his body over the years of abuse, bone that had

been broken in the past fused more solid that it had ever been, while

organs strengthened and in some cases began to increase in capacity.

Xander's heart and lung capacity doubled, and his living tissue of

his rib cage expanded to allow for this, the magic still remaining in

the costume allowing the Adamantium fused to his bones to liquefy,

while his bones went about making the necessary adjustments to his

body to allow for optimum performance, the magic also acting to keep

him blissfully unconscious while this painful endeavor took place.

Meanwhile, as this was going on, Xander's muscles began to stretch,

swell, and grow, easily doubling the mass on his structure. Where

once he had been of fair size with potential for more; now he had

thick muscles throughout his arms and torso. Where once he had been

not even pushing 180 pounds now, with the Adamantium infusing his

bones he was pushing 500 pounds, and none of it fat, it being burned

away as energy to fuel the massive physiological metamorphosis he was

undergoing. As a final step, the magic set about adjusting his five

senses. Eyes, ears, nose, taste, and touch all were affected by the

new genetic code, increasing their sensitivity at an exponential

level. It took six hours for all of the changes to be effected, and

as a final "gift" the magic in the costume, before tapering off and

fading completely made a dump into Xander's long term memory.

Everything that the character Wolverine, had been and was, now, so

was he. Everything he had known, Xander knew too. All of the good,

and all of that bad, it was all his.

Xander's eyes snapped open and then slammed back shut. It was like

someone was flashing a hundred spotlights in his eyes. He couldn't

bear to open them. It was as he was trying to adjust to this fact

that the memories came flooding into his mind, it was almost painful

as these memories and this knowledge infused itself within his

consciousness, and instantly he knew exactly what had happened.

"That bastard." he growled out as he leapt off of his bed, but not

yet quite being used to his new body he ended up slamming into the

wall. This only served to fuel his anger even more. "I'm going to

find that son of a bitch and I'm gonna gut him like a pig." Xander

screamed, as the claws popped from the back of his hands. This

reality stopped Xander cold and he could only stare at the claws in

numb shock, so great that his superb hearing didn't allow him to

understand the sound of squeaking bed springs, and screaming voice

was the herald of trouble coming his way. Xander was still staring at

his hands and more specifically the claws when his bedroom door was

shoved in and his father screamed at incoherently at him before

slamming a fist into is head, "Damn it boy, don't you know better

than to wake me up. You good for nothing piece of shit." He kicked

him in the ribs. "That ought to teach you, you piece of garbage."

Jessica came in and saw her husband kicking their son and she tried

to pull him away, "No Anthony, please." It was as far as she got

before an elbow slammed into her mouth. "You worthless bitch, I'm

your husband, haven't you learned by now what that means?"

Anthony began to move towards her, intent on teaching her a lesson

she wouldn't soon forget. That was until he heard a voice behind him

that made his blood run cold.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size, Tony, or has the

alcohol shriveled up your balls?"

The insult served to drive out the fear the voice had momentarily

instilled and Anthony Harris spun, throwing his fist as he did. He'd

teach the little bastard who had balls.

Anthony Harris was a bully sure, but he was the worst kind, in that

he was a bully that actually knew how to fight. He wasn't all talk.

Far from it. He had been a barroom brawler for years and he knew how

to throw a punch. Not that it did him much good this time, as his

fist was stopped in mid swing by a hand catching it out of mid air.

Xander might of let his father beat on him some more. He could feel

the minor injuries that Tony had inflicted healing almost as fast as

they were received. He might have let the man get away with it, if

for no other reason than it was a habit. That was until the man

struck his mother. That was something he didn't have to put up

with….not anymore.

He easily caught the fist in mid air. His eyes locked onto his

father's and then he squeezed. Almost immediately the bones in

Anthony Harris' hand began to give, but Xander didn't stop when he

heard the first crack, or the second. He didn't stop when his father

began to whimper and then cry out, and then finally bellow in pain.

He kept squeezing until the man that had terrorized him for more than

ten years was on his knees, begging between gasps of pain for mercy.

"Mercy doesn't live here, dad." he released the hand and then grabbed

his father by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Rules have

changed old man. You better get sober and you better make yourself

worth keeping alive, or I'm going to change my mind about letting you

live and the only thing the Sunnydale cops will ever find of you is a

wet spot, you hear me?" he screamed in his father's face.

Anthony Harris could only nod his head in fear, and Xander dropped

him before rushing to his mother. "Mom?"

Jessica Harris just stared at her son and said, "Xander, what

happened? What happened to you baby?"

Xander tried to smile but it didn't reach his eyes, "It doesn't

matter mom, all that matters is I'm never going to let him hurt you

again, ok?"

There was something in her son's tone that told Jessica that whatever

it was, she could trust him, that finally, fro the first time in as

long as she could remember, she was safe. She looked at her husband

and was surprised she didn't feel the hatred she should; she only

felt pity for him. "Someone should take him to the hospital Xander."

Xander nodded and said, "Do you mind, I need to get to school."

Jessica nodded, "Ok." she smiled at him as he quickly gathered some

clothes and put them on over the spandex costume he had been wearing

last night. Jessica nodded a difference in his wardrobe, this morning

too. Gone were the ugly shirts, and instead he stepped into their

bedroom and pulled one his fathers large shirts out of the closet and

put it on. Normally the shirt would have been too large for Xander's

smaller frame but she noticed that not only was it not to big, it was

almost too small. A pair of his father's jeans were also borrowed,

their greater size allowing them to fit over Xander's thickly muscled

legs. "Going to need to go clothes shopping." Jessica heard him say

to himself as he stood and walked over to her, helping her up from

the floor where she still sat.

He pulled her into a hug and said, "I love you mom," and then he was

out the door. Jessica watched him go and then turned to her husband

and said, "Tony, we have a lot to talk about." Anthony looked at his

wife, his hand now only throbbing dully as he nodded and said, "Yeah."

Outside Xander pulled on a pair of sunglasses he had taken from his

father's wardrobe and looked in the window of his dad's car. "Well

the hair's going to take some getting used to." he said to no one in

particular as he noticed the twin peaks his hair was now growing

into. No amount of pushing or pulling would keep it down either. "Oh

well, I'll deal. Right now I need to get to G-man and see what he can

tell me," and with that he took off at a quick easy pace that would

have him to the school in no time."


	2. Sunnydale Berserker 2: Coping

Giles was startled as the doors to the library slammed open and

Xander walked in, "Xander, what is the meaning of…" He trailed off as

Xander's eyes locked with his own and Xander said in a voice thick

with something Giles couldn't really identify, "Giles, we need to

talk."

Giles nodded his head, and for the first time really looked at Xander

and what he saw shocked him mute. Xander looked, impossibly, as if he

had put on over 100 pounds of muscle. This was definitely not normal,

although normal for Sunnydale was a relative concept. What he did

notice was that the normal laughter and smiles he usually saw in the

boy's eyes was gone. In its place was something, old, and feral, and

angry, but also scared and it broke his heart to see it.

"What's happened Xander?"

"Last night Giles, the spell, it…had an after effect."

"What?" Giles shouted, "B-B-But that shouldn't have happened, th the

spell should have been broken when I broke the statue, and everything

should have returned to normal."

"Maybe," Xander said nervously, "but I'm here to tell you that it

didn't happen like that."

"All right Xander, sit down here," he told the boy as he moved

towards the table, "tell me everything you remember."

"There's not much to tell Giles," Xander said, and Giles looked at

him with no small amount of concern, that was the third time Xander

had called him by his proper name in as many minutes. This was a

clear testimony that something was definitely troubling the boy. "I

went home like everyone else did. When I got there I was so tired I

just collapsed into my bed and when I woke up this morning I was like

this.

Giles seethed inside as he realized that Ethan must have somehow done

something to Xander's costume to make the spell work differently for

him. But did he do it because he somehow knew that Xander knew Giles,

or was it just random chaos? Giles would have to be sure to ask his

friend the next time he saw him….while he was breaking the bones in

his body of course.

"It will be ok Xander; we'll fix this, somehow."

Xander shook his head, "I don't think so Giles, not this time.

Whatever that madman did to me, it's permanent, and I can feel it in

my Adamantium laced bones."

"Your what?" Giles asked in confusion, "What did you say?"

"Adamantium, Giles, it's on my bones, all of them. They're completely

laced with the stuff. The only thing keeping my blood replenished

with red blood cells since my bones can't do it anymore is my healing

factor." Xander said, "Just like Wolverine." was the bitter final

comment.

"Xander," Giles began, compassion filling his voice, "I think you

should tell me exactly what this character was that you dressed up as

last night. Perhaps understanding him I can understand what's

happened to you."

Xander nodded his head, "Ok Giles it's like this. I dressed up as

Wolverine, a comic book character from Marvel Comics and part of the

X-men. They're a band of mutants all brought together by a man named

Charles Xavier. He's a mutant to, specializing in telepathy. It's

really interesting the variety of characters in the comic if you've

ever read it…"

"Xander." Giles said softly, yet firmly, "perhaps we could keep on

topic?"

"Oh yeah, sorry Giles I'm just still getting used to this is all."

"It's quite all right my boy, just go on."

"Ok Giles, anyway, Wolverine, or Logan that's his real name,

Wolverine is his codename, is a mutant. Specifically his mutation is

that his healing is accelerated. He was born with, and this is

straight from the books, a Para human, super-efficent, healing

factor, that can deal with any illness, or wound, or poison. Makes

him way stronger than normal. Makes his senses keener than any

animal's. In addition to his senses his bones are laced with a metal

called Adamantium. It's an unbreakable metal that cannot be cut,

melted, or damaged by normal means. It makes his bones virtually

unbreakable, also means that he weighs damn near 500 pounds." Giles

raised his eyebrows at this information but signaled Xander to

continue, saving his questions for when the explanation was

finished. "Finally," Xander continued, "he has claws, six of them

extending from bionic housings implanted in his forearms. Made of

pure Adamantium and honed so sharp they'll cut through anything.

Giles I've got them all, the healing, the senses, and the metal on my

bones and the claws, all of it."

As Giles listened to Xander tell his story he could tell the boy was

getting more and more excited and more and more scared. If what

Xander said was true there was reason to fear. There might be no way

to remove the metal from his bones without killing him and they'd

have to do that in addition to reversing the rest of the process that

was done to him, otherwise he'd die in a matter of weeks if his bones

were really not producing new red blood cells. A though entered Giles

mind and he asked, "Xander these claws, are you sure you still have

them?"

In answer there was a Snikt sound and suddenly Xander was holding up

both hands, each with three claws sticking out of them between the

first knuckle of each of his four fingers. Giles removed his glasses

and quickly began to polish them in earnest before returning them to

his head. Gently he reached for Xander's hand, indicating with a nod

that he wanted to examine them more closely. Xander complied and

allowed the man he respected most in the world a chance to examine

his new freakdom. He so hoped Giles wouldn't freak out and order him

from the library. That was one thing he couldn't stand the thought

of, rejection.

Xander of course didn't need to worry; scorn was the furthest thing

from the Englishman's mind. Closely he looked at the metal. Studying

it like it was the rarest thing on earth. When he thought about it,

it was, no where else in the known universe did this metal exist

other than inside the body of a boy, no, he corrected himself, young

man, that he thought of as one of his children. That fact alone would

put Xander in grave danger, from both enemies and those that called

themselves friends'. The Council itself would jump at the

opportunity to get a sample of this metal if what Xander said of its

properties was true. They wouldn't care if Xander was hurt in the

process, it would be for a "good cause". Giles vowed to himself then

and there that no matter what happened, the Council would never hear

of this.

Of course any government in the world would be the same way. Of

course right now the chance of exposure to foreign governments was

remote, but it was a circumstance that they should definitely not

ignore. Xander's safety was dependent upon them remembering there

things and staying ahead of them.

Giles looked where the blades erupted from Xander's hands and asked,

carefully, "Xander, when these, claws' come out, does it hurt?"

When Xander didn't answer immediately and instead slid the blades

back into his hands Giles looked up at him after he watched in shock

as the wounds in Xander's hands closed in mere seconds. Xander met

his eye as he calmly said, "Every time."

"I see." said the librarian, and he decided to change the subject

quickly, "You said it cannot be destroyed?"

"Well that's not entirely true it's not impossible just damn hard.

This stuff is stronger than Titanium Giles." Xander said, "It can be

damaged, just not by any conventional means. Wolverine took shots

from some of the toughest people in the universe and they weren't

able to damage it. In our world terms I figure you put it next to a

nuclear bomb, or expose it to enough heat and it might melt, but then

I'd be vaporized so I probably wouldn't care at that point if I had

droopy claws."

The tone of his voice forced Giles to look up at the young man again

and he was relieved to see a slight grin on his face. At least he

still has his sense of humor. Giles returned the smile and said, "You

indicated that these will cut through anything' I believe was your

statement."

"Yup," Xander said proudly, "if you want, maybe we can head down to

the Sunnydale junkyard and I can give you a demonstration of what

these babies can do."

"That would be an excellent idea Xander, but for now, is there

anything else I should know?"

"Oh yeah Giles I'm just getting started," for the next hour Xander

explained to Giles in great detail everything that he could remember

that wasn't his memories. He demonstrated some of the more complex

form of martial arts he now knew like he was born to them, including

a fairly difficult sword kata that he said Logan had learned probably

before Giles had been born.

That was nothing compared to the knowledge in languages, dialects,

customs, and traditions he knew from all over the world in general

and the Orient specifically. When asked Xander explained, "its pretty

well commonly believed that Logan is MUCH older than he appears or

anyone believes. How old he is isn't know because he lost a lot of

his memory when the government put the Adamantium in his body. But if

he is as old as most people think, and if he's always had the

wandering spirit in him it makes sense he's been a lot of places and

learned a lot of stuff."

Giles couldn't argue with the logic of that statement.

Finally it was coming to time for the girls to arrive. Xander was

sure that Buffy and Willow would be in any minute for the research

that Giles said he wanted done because of last night. Xander was

saddened that he couldn't stand the thought of seeing them right now.

He couldn't even work up the energy to tease Giles, it just didn't

appeal to him like it used to. Hopefully that would change in the

near future but for now he was looking for a lot of help, and

understanding from Giles and a huge favor, making fun of the man in

that situation just didn't feel right.

"Ok, look Giles, I need to go. I've got some things to do, and I

don't want to be here when the girls get here."

"Why ever not?" Giles asked, "They're certain to be worried about you

when you aren't here."

"I know, Giles, I know. I just can't see them right now. I need

something first." He looked at the older man and his eyes spoke

perfectly and instantly the older man knew what he wanted. "You want

me to break the news to them, don't you?"

"Only in the save me from the sympathy brigade kind of way. Dealing

with Buffy wanting to go Slayer kill crazy on something and an

unending dose of Willow-babble is just not something I'm up to right

now."

"I understand how you feel, but how do you think they will feel when

they find out that you didn't want to face them? Don't you think

they'll be hurt?"

Xander thought about that and said, "Maybe Giles, maybe." He thought

about it for a second and said, "Fine, don't tell them anything, I'll

tell them myself, here but later, much later. Tell them I was here

and that you sent me on an errand or something. Hopefully that will

keep them from worrying too much about me."

Giles realized that was as good as he was going to get and

said, "Fine Xander, I will do as you ask, but if I may, what will you

be doing until that time?"

"I've got some errands to run for real Giles, some things to do, and

people to see." Suddenly his head snapped towards the library doors

and the teen leapt out of his chair and over the railing and beat

feet out the rear of the library, just as the doors opened and Willow

and Buffy came through them.

"Hey there Giles, how ya doin?" Buffy asked in her best blonde voice,

it was a sure fire indicator to the Watcher that she was up to

something. He pulled off his glasses and began polishing them, trying

to cover his shock at the incredible prowess Xander had just

demonstrated and he said, "I'm well Buffy, and yourself?"

"Peachy with a side of keen." She paused for a moment as she ran her

fingers over the counter and finally said, "So, I was wondering,

since its Saturday and all, if we might be able to skip research and

training today?"

Giles looked at Willow and said, "A boy?"

The redhead started to blush slightly and said, "A sale."

"Ah well in that case since it's so important…" Xander was smiling to

himself as he finally got out of range to hear the Watcher's

exasperated answer.

Xander had been telling the truth when he said he had things to do.

His first stop was the bank where he quickly transferred some money

out his savings account. He was in serious need of a new wardrobe and

fast. There was over 4000 dollars in his account, savings for a road

trip he'd been planning for years but now he figured some of the

money could go to a better cause. He was sure it was some left over

of Logan's personality but his normal clothing just wasn't going to

get it for him anymore. Of course Logan's preferred flannel shirts

and leather or denim jackets weren't going to work for him either.

California was most certainly not the Yukon. So he'd have to

compromise. Logan's sensibilities but his knowledge of the climate.

So after getting his money moved out of the savings and into his

checking with an expertly forged parental signature he headed for the

mall, wallet and credit card in hand.

Several hours later found Xander leaving the mall with several bags

filled with clothes. Normally he wouldn't go so hog wild with the

wardrobe but he realized that with his new abilities he was most

certainly going to be getting into a lot more scraps and fights, and

while his body would heal, his clothes wouldn't, so he was going to

need plenty of clothes to make for whatever got ruined. Tough denim

jeans and t-shirts of carrying colors was the order of the day. In

addition to hunting clothes he also restocked his school wardrobe. He

was feeling more grown up, without a doubt Logan's influences still

echoing in his mind and just didn't feel the loud shirts were him

anymore. He's keep the clothes as baggy as reasonable, hoping to cash

in on some of the Sunnydale blindness to keep the number of people

that noticed the new him to a minimum. Some hair ties that he found

worked in allowing him to pull his hair down into an oh so

fashionable' pony tale would hopefully further that goal along.

Finally his new wardrobe consisted of quite a few workout clothes.

He was in good shape no doubt but he knew now with Logan's memories

that he was only in that great a shape because he exercised. Xander

was going to start an exercise regimen if he was going to keep his

physique at its peak.

He checked his watch and realized that if Mickey wasn't lying to him

it was time to go back to the library and face the music. He decided

that walking with arms filled with bags of clothes wasn't a bright

move and so he hailed a cab and had it drop him off near the library.

Xander headed back in the same back entrance he left through and set

his many bags aside and slowly crept up to see what was going on. He

saw Buffy and Willow reading some of Giles' books, and the Englishman

himself was sitting at the counter while Mrs. Calendar tried to

explain something or other she had up on the computer screen. Giles

was looking typically flummoxed when it came to the computer and

Xander couldn't help but chuckle as he could hear the poor man

sputtering at some innuendo the attractive computer teacher had made

towards him. The lady was going to be good for Giles, Xander thought.

Xander then turned his attention back to "his" girls. Usually seeing

Buffy and Willow together was enough to get his hormones stirring,

especially Buffy, when she wore one of those skirts like she was

wearing now. This time however it wasn't happening, no he was to busy

staring in wonder at his oldest, and dearest friend.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered Logan's preference

for redheads, particularly fiery spirited redheads, which Willow had

certainly shown herself to be, especially when she had been

beating "Malcolm" with that fire extinguisher. So he knew it was

Logan's influence that was driving his attraction for his closest

friend. Of course he could also almost hear Logan's voice asking him

why it took a possession for him to realize how beautiful the hacker

was, and how crazy she was about him.

Sure he had acknowledged last year when he was possessed by the Hyena

that he knew Willow was holding a candle for him but he did so in a

condescending way, and he had used it to hurt Willow. After he had

been de-possessed he had locked her feelings away to the back of his

mind again.

Now he shook the thoughts from his head, plenty of time for that

later. He'd figure something out right at this moment. Buffy was

unattainable for him, his new pragmatism bringing that fact to

startling clarity. But just because he wasn't going to get Buffy

didn't mean he had to be lonely, or alone. There was someone in his

life right now that he'd always known he loved, he'd just never let

himself see it, until now. Of course the last thing he wanted to do

was approach Willow so soon with an offer at a relationship. Which he

realized was exactly what he wanted. Reviewing their relationship in

his mind, paying close attention especially to the last year since

they'd known Buffy he had treated her at times quite badly. He

remembered now what had happened the night Buffy came back after

summer break, he was ready to KISS Willow, and then he didn't because

Buffy was back in town. He also remembered the night of "the dance"

as he angrily remembered it. Willow had tried so hard to get him back

in that mood, but all he could think about was the blonde Slayer he's

been holding a candle for since he'd first seen her.

He sighed deeply and thought that of all the problems this change'

of his was going to create in his life, being able to see the truth

of his feelings for both girls was definitely not one of them. He

had a lot to make up for and he needed to do that first, but after

that he was going to make a play for Willow and just hope he hadn't

missed his shot. Oh no, he thought with a trace of bitterness,

Adamantium claws, healing factor, berserker rage, and I'm in love

with my best friend, who I've treated like trash, my life's not

complicated in the least. From somewhere deep in his mind he heard

that little voice of his chuckle with no small amount of sarcasm.

He took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the stacks, "Hey

folks, did you miss me?"

"Xander!" Willow shouted happily, and she started to move towards

him. Buffy however was much more aware that something was different

and tried to stop Willow, "Willow wait."

The redhead stopped in confusion and asked, "What's wrong Buffy, it's

just Xander."

"No, it isn't," Buffy said, edging towards the weapons cabinet.

"No, she's right, it isn't." Xander said as he stepped out of the

shadows and into the light that was filtering the windows. He easily

heard the three gasps from the women in the room and looked over at

Giles, "Giles, a little help here?" his voice imploring, he couldn't

stand the looks of fear and distrust he saw in both their eyes.

"Buffy stop this at once."

"But Giles?" The blonde seemed to almost whine.

"No, I am aware of what your concerns for Xander might be and I can

assure you that nothing bad has really happened to him. I've already

talked with him about it and he is here to explain it to the rest of

you. I ask that you calm down and allow him to explain before you do

anything rash."

Buffy thought about her Watcher's words, and about the subject of

their discussion. This was her Xander-shaped friend, but something

was wrong. She could feel him on her Slaydar and she didn't like the

feeling. It was the feeling that someone else was on her turf and she

wanted to fight whoever it was off. She knew instinctively that

Xander was the one she felt but she didn't know why and that

confusion only added to her anxiety, her whole world was being thrown

off center. Finally she nodded and slowly, almost painfully forced

herself to sit down at the table. Willow quickly joined and soon so

did Giles and Mrs. Calendar. The teacher for her part smiled in no

small amount of appreciation at Xander and his new look and build and

Xander could almost smell an aroma of jealousy coming off of Willow,

just as he could smell the attraction coming from the teacher. He

smiled slightly, before sobering quickly. He looked at his friends

and said, "Ok, I told Giles this already but this is the second go

around. Last nights spell had a little more lasting effect on me than

it did everyone else."

"Oh no," he heard Willow say, and she already had tears rimming her

eyes. Xander reached out and took her hand and said, "It's ok Willow,

see, last night after I went home…"


	3. Sunnydale Berserker 3: Showing Off

Xander looked around to the faces of those he had spent the last hour

explaining everything he knew so far about his transformation. Most

of it was pretty basic stuff. Fast healing, strong, fast, enhanced

senses, and metal claws. At one point Xander had needed to stop so he

could hug Willow for whom the entire explanation had been too much.

She was afraid for her friend and she needed that friend to tell her

everything would be alright.

"As I was explaining to Xander earlier," Giles said, "the

possibilities, while fraught with possible danger are incalculable.

If Xander's is able to perform even half as well as he did last night

then he will be extremely valuable in our fight."

"That's right," Xander interrupted, "that's why we decided that I

needed to tell you guys everything. We don't want to have secrets

about this stuff between us, that could hurt us in the long run and

that's the last thing we want."

Xander noticed the apprehensive looks at his words on both Giles and

Miss Calendar's face. He wondered what it could possibly mean but was

derailed from his train of thought by the question, "So what are we

going to do to fix him?"

The question came from Buffy, an unreadable expression on her face.

She looked at Giles and Miss Calendar. Both teachers looked at a

loss, obviously lost in thought elsewhere and completely caught off

guard by the question. Buffy impatiently tapped on the table and

said, "Well, what are we going to do to fix him Giles?"

The librarian completely confused by the question, "I beg your pardon

Buffy, what do you mean?"

"Well we can't leave him like this, Giles," she said, waving her hand

in Xander's direction, "you said it yourself, it's too dangerous for

him. Someone might come after him. So we need to undo whatever was

done

to him."

"I didn't say it was too dangerous, I said there could be some

danger." Giles corrected.

"Amounts to the same thing in my book," the Slayer said, "it puts him

in danger so we need to help him."

"Buffy," Giles began but was cut off.

"No," the blonde Slayer said, "don't Buffy' me. Xander had something

happen to him and we need to get out the books and find a way to

change him back to the way he was for his own good."

"Buffy," Xander began, his voice holding just the slightest edge to

it, "Giles and I have been over this. Whatever that crazy bastard did

to me, it's internal, it's permanent, he changed my DNA for Pete's

sake Buffy. There's no magic on me anymore, it's all in my genes now."

"But if Magic did this, magic can undo it, right?" Willow asked. Her

concern for her friend evident in the quiet way she asked the

question. Xander sat down next to her and said, "Hey Wills, don't

worry, its

ok."

"You're not hurt?" she asked in a small voice. He shook his

head, "nope, I feel fine. Giles and I have been all over that already

and I'm fine. It's fine." It was a lie of course. He had done most of

the talking, and he was still wigged out but for now he hoped Giles

backed him up on this.

"Indeed Willow," Giles interjected, as if answering Xander's silent

player. "And to answer your question although you're right it was

magic that did this it was Chaos magic, a particular bad sort. The

amount of magic it would take to undo the effects of this kind of

magic would require the practitioner to be nearly ten times stronger

than the person that caused the effects in the first place."

"Well there has to be someone that powerful out there, right?" Buffy

asked.

Jenny shook her head, "It would also require the person casting the

reversal spell to sacrifice their soul. Who exactly would you ask to

do that Buffy, hmm?"

Buffy looked chastised for a moment and the room fell silent, giving

Xander a chance to really take stock of how he felt.

He felt great, in fact, he felt fantastic. There was no way he was

going to give this up just because everyone thought it might be safer

for him. Especially since being like this meant he was going to be

able to better help keep his friends safe. He looked over at Buffy

and said, "Don't worry Buff; I'm not hurting in anyway. I'm fine the

way I am now. I'll be ok."

"No, you won't Xander." Buffy said, "Things will come after you,

especially if you try to patrol. They'll find out about you and then

you'll have a target on your back."

"You mean like you do?" Xander asked, "Look Buff I know you're just

trying to watch out for me, and I appreciate it, but you're not

thinking about one important thing here."

"What?" The blonde asked in confusion.

"My choice," he said, as if that was all the explanation

necessary, "As long as Giles and Miss Calendar can confirm that I'm

not going to be hurt by this thing, and more importantly that none of

you will be either, then I don't see why I can't stay this way. It

will really be a big help to you. You wouldn't believe some of the

things I've got running around in my head."

"That's not your job Xander," Buffy said, almost pouting, "I'm the

Slayer. It's my job to risk my life, not yours."

Xander shook his head, "Buffy, this has been my fight since the night

Jesse died." He clasped Willow's hand at her sharp intake of breath

in memory of their lost friend. He looked at Buffy and continued his

voice thick with emotion, "You remember Jesse, the guy we lost at the

Harvest. He was my brother Buffy; he was OUR brother, in every way

that mattered. He died and was turned into a monster by that bitch

Darla. Do you think in even your most insane moment that there is the

slightest possible possibility that I'd give this fight up. It's not

my job? It's not my fight? IT IS MY FIGHT! You know why? Because I

CHOOSE to fight. You were chosen, but I CHOSE, and you don't have the

right to take that choice away from me, Slayer or not, Chosen One or

not. I'm going to continue this fight and there's nothing you could

ever do to stop me. At least this way, I've got a good chance of not

getting killed."

"Xander," Miss Calendar began carefully, she knew a little bit about

the comics, a guilty pleasure when she was younger, and she knew what

Wolverine was capable of. More importantly she knew what happened

when you really made him mad; people died. "I'm sure Buffy is just

concerned for you, we all are." She turned to Buffy and said, "Buffy,

I know you're worried about Xander but there's really not much we can

do. Like we said, this kind of magic isn't something you can undo

without an incredible price. The person that cast this spell

obviously didn't care who he hurt, but we have to care. Rupert is

right; the magic has

completely altered Xander's DNA. I don't know of, nor have I ever

heard of any kind of magic that can do that except Black Magic. REAL

bad stuff. WE don't have anyone that can cast a spell to undo it, and

even if we did I don't think they'd sacrifice their soul to do it.

Plus, in the end we couldn't even be sure that a spell like that

would be successful. Right now he's alive and fine. And if my memory

of the X-men serves me, he's in better shape than any person on the

planet, maybe even you. But casting a spell to undo this, it could

kill him."

"You a closet X-men fan? All right Miss C." Xander said in a chuckle

that caused the teacher to blush.

Buffy looked a little perturbed that Jenny was suggesting that Xander

was in better shape than she was, but as she looked closely at her

Xander-shaped friend she realized that he was in good looking shape.

Still, she was the Slayer; she was the one that fought the demons and

the vampires. Isn't that what her first Watcher had told her, it was

HER duty, not someone else's. She couldn't let someone take the risk

that was hers.

"Xander," she started carefully, "I know you want to help, and I

really appreciate it, really I do. But I can't let you risk your life

like this. I know you said you choose to fight but you shouldn't have

to, this is my duty, it's my job, and it's my fight. You're supposed

to be able to have a normal life, and I'm the one that's supposed to

fight and die in the dark." The last part was said with no small

amount of bitterness in her voice and Giles cleared his throat.

"Buffy, you're not going to die anytime soon, not if I can help it."

"But you can't Giles," she said, not even looking at her

Watcher, "you couldn't stop me from dying in the Master's cave, and

you won't be able to stop it when it's my time again. I know that

now. I can't fight destiny." She looked up at Xander, a pleading look

in her eyes, "But you CAN Xander, you can, please."

Xander looked around the room, trying desperately to look anywhere

but into the tear-filled eyes of the Slayer. He wanted to be angry

with her; to feel some rage at her for her presumption she could tell

him what he should and shouldn't do with his life. He just couldn't,

even though she was wrong for trying to take his choice from him he

understood why. That was why he hated to disappoint her.

"I'm, I'm sorry Buffy. But this is my fight; this is my fight because

I, as a human being CHOOSE TO MAKE IT, my fight. If you fail, then we

all die. Then my decision not to be a part of it won't make a bit of

difference, I'll still be dead, and so will the entire world."

He rested his hands on her shoulders and continued, "We are your

friends, and we love you, and we're not going to let you face that

darkness alone, because you would never let us face it alone. Yes it

is your destiny, but you are our friend, you're MY friend, and

friends don't ever abandon one another, not ever."

Buffy started to cry at that point, and she buried her head in his

chest. Slowly, one by one the others stood and either hugged her as

well, or simply rested a hand on her shoulder, letting her know

through contact that she wasn't alone, she wasn't ever alone.

Sunnydale Junkyard, next morning

It had been an emotional night for the Scooby gang and that was why

they had gotten such a late start on their little field trip. The

idea was to see just what Xander could do with his new augmentations.

Actually the point was to give the others an idea of what it was he

was capable of, Xander was already fairly familiar with his

abilities, and could feel his body growing stronger and stronger with

each passing hour. He knew that his healing factor had taken quite a

beating in his magical transformation and it was working overtime to

repair the damage the magic had done. Sure he felt stronger and

faster and better than he ever had as Xander Harris, normal guy, but

as Wolverine, he knew he was still no where near a hundred percent.

He had decided he'd give it another day or so before he started

training hard to get himself in top physical condition, for now a

little demonstration wasn't going to hurt him.

He arrived smiling at Willow and Buffy who had their heads together

discussing something or other, probably him, and he found Miss

Calendar and Giles looking over something that he was shocked to see

was comic books, specifically "Wolverine" comics.

"Where did you get those?" Xander asked as he walked up.

Miss Calendar seemed to blush as she said, "They're mine, they're old

and I haven't collected in a while but I figured that they would give

Rupert and the others a taste of what you might be capable of. I

don't have any recent issues and nothing over the last couple of

years, other things… took precedent."

That was the second time that Miss Colander had called Giles Rupert'

and it wasn't lost on Xander. He wondered if the girls had caught it

as well but instead of asking he said, "Yeah real life can be that

way sometimes." Xander said nonchalantly. Ignoring, or at least

trying to ignore the rise in her heartbeat when she said things'.

Something started bothering him at the back of his mind about Miss

C., a whisper that something might be wrong about her and he should

keep an eye on her. So far though she had done nothing but help them

and he couldn't see why he'd be thinking she was dangerous. He shook

the thoughts off and chalked them up to a new sense of paranoia

thanks to the memories he'd gotten from Wolverine. He also was

starting to notice other attributes to the pint sized mutant,

starting to surface. The most annoying thus far however was a strong

desire he had for a cigar. He shook the thought off, the last thing

he needed was problems with Snyder about him smoking.

As far as Miss Calendar was concerned, he was happy to let the

thought go for now, but if need be, they'd be having a long talk.

That was, however, something Xander was really getting tired of. Last

night had been a long, draining night. After everything was settled

with Buffy they had remained at the Library talking until way after

sundown about everything they knew about Xander as well as the events

of the previous evening and any possible long term problems. Spike

was beginning to become a problem and it was decided he needed to be

dealt with as soon as possible. So after all of that Xander and Buffy

had walked Willow home and then the two of them finally decided they

needed to toss a coin to decide who was going to walk who home.

Xander had still been smiling about it when he walked into his house

and went up stairs to find his mother packing a suitcase.

FLASHBACK

"Mom, what's going on?"

"I'm packing your father a suitcase, Xander, what does it look like?"

She stopped to look at her son, again amazed at just how filled out

he had become.

"You're, you're kicking him out?" Xander asked in shock. He'd never

thought he'd see this day.

"No," she said, quickly crashing his hopes, "your father asked me to

pack for him. Your little display this morning put the fear of God

into him, it's a horrible thing, I can tell you Xander when a

parent wakes up' and realizes just how horrible they've been to

their own child. It never happened with your father's father. He died

blissfully unaware just how tortured a life he forced your father

through."

"You mean dad was..." Xander couldn't finish the sentence, he

remembered his grandfather being a small man. Not that he had many

memories of him; he died when Xander was young.

"Yes he did. He went through the same hell that he's put you through.

Why do you think they call it a cycle? When you grow up and have kids

of your own you're going to have to work damn hard not to fall into

those habits. We become what we're taught Xander unless we work to

fight it."

"I'm never going to be like HIM!" Xander said in no small amount of

rage. He felt guilty after he saw the way his mother stepped back

instinctively. "I'm sorry," he said ashamedly.

"Don't be," his mother said lovingly, "I know how you feel. Your

father said the same thing, but then he discovered the bottle, or it

discovered him and that was the beginning of the end for him. He's

sobering out now, or trying to. That's why I'm packing. There's a

nice detoxification hospital in Los Angeles, that's agreed to take

your father in. Your uncle Thomas has agreed to let your father take

a leave of absence, and to cover his salary while he's away."

"My uncle Thomas? Who's he?" Xander asked in confusion, too much was

changing to fast for him.

Jessica smiled sadly, "Thomas is my brother. He runs the company that

your dad works for. It's that reason and that one alone that your

father still has a job. You think any company would let him work

being drunk like he usually is?"

Xander just shrugged, "I just chalked it up to Sunnydale blindness,"

he commented quietly.

Jessica shook her head, "No, no, not that, just good old fashioned

covering your family's ass. He never let your father work on anything

important, which is why your dad's never been promoted. Thomas never

wanted anything else to do with us because he said he couldn't

socialize with us while he knew what was going on in this house."

"If he knew what was going on, why didn't he do anything?" Xander

asked, a little of his anger returning, "He's your brother how could

he just let..."

"Because I told him to," she said simply, "This is my family and I

was determined to fix it without anyone else's help. I was a fool

Xander, and you've suffered the most for my foolishness. I just hope

that someday, you'll be able to forgive me, and your father. We both

let you down so much, so much" she began to cry, hard sobs that took

all of her strength from her and she collapsed to the floor. Xander

ran to her and held her, not quite yet having the strength to say he

forgave her, but he did tell her everything would be all right.

END FLASHBACK

He sat that way with his mother for hours, letting her pour her heart

out to him about everything in their lives that she felt responsible

for. It wasn't supposed to be this way, she was supposed to raise up

a healthy, happy family.

Xander had listened and comforted his mother, telling her things from

his life as well. He was shocked to learn that both his parents knew

about vampires. An explanation as to why when he was younger neither

wanted him ever to go out at night. A concern that slipped away as

his father fell deeper and deeper into his bottle. He also, when she

asked, explained what had happened to him in the last twenty-four

hours. He didn't know why he told her, but he just felt it was right.

After her hugs and heartfelt promises that he would ALWAYS be her

son, no matter what, Xander had put her to bed, promising to help her

finish packing for his dad in the morning.

That was exactly what he had done and it was why he had been the last

person to arrive at the junkyard for his "performance" as he thought

of it.

Giles said, "Well now that you've arrived Xander shall we get on with

it?"

"Sure Giles," Xander said, smiling, "no problem. What do you want to

do first?"

"Buffy, if you would?" Giles said and the Slayer slowly got up from

where she was sitting with Willow and slowly approached Xander.

"First," Giles said, "we want to see how good you really are at hand

to hand. Buffy will spar with you," he said, pausing at the slight

trepidation he saw in her face, "you'll both start slow," he said,

his tone meaning they weren't to argue, "then I want you to begin to

slowly increase your speed. I want you to pull your punches, both of

you, no sense in anyone getting hurt, do you understand?"

Both nodded their agreement and Giles stepped back. "You sure you

want to do this Xan?" Buffy asked trying to give her friend a way out

of the beating she knew was coming his way. Xander just gave her his

trademark smirk and said, "Don't worry Buff, we won't tell the vamps

you got your butt handed to you, and a pretty butt it is."

Buffy's face went wide with shock, as did everyone else's at the

boldness of the young man and then her eyes narrowed and she

said, "Why you," as she moved in for the attack.

It started out slow but soon the two fighters realized that each was

capable of more and Buffy for her part was absolutely shocked. She

never anticipated Xander could be this good. Every punch she threw he

simply ducked or weaved out of the way. She decided to step it up

more and was soon moving at what she knew to be the limits of what a

normal human was capable of. Still Xander was matching her blow for

blow. She too was simply avoiding the punches that were, for her,

coming in slow motion. As if by uniform, silent agreement both

fighters moved into the Para-human speeds.

To the three people that were watching the punches were beginning to

blur. Giles removed his glasses in utter shock. It was one thing

hearing that Xander was now capable of this. It was even another to

have read the comics, that Miss Calan… he meant Jenny had brought. It

was an all together different thing to actually see it happening in

front of him. He knew the speed at which a Slayer was capable of

moving and he knew Buffy was moving into that area where thought and

action for a Slayer became one. The point when she was purely the

warrior she was capable of becoming, and Xander was right there with

her.

Willow and Jenny, although neither having the frame of reference that

Giles did were both equally amazed at what they were seeing. Willow

even more so because she had never really seen Buffy moving like this

except at night and to see it in the bright light of the day it was a

completely new experience, it was beautiful somehow. That is if you

forgot that the reason she was moving like this was because she was

trying to punch a hole in her best friend's chest.

Suddenly there was a muted metallic thump and everyone watched as

Xander was suddenly lifted from his feet by a powerful punch launched

at his chin by the Slayer. Buffy pulled back her hand and yelped in

shocked pain and shook her hand, "That HURT!" she cried out in a very

girly manner. Then her mind kicked into gear and she realized

suddenly what she had done. Everyone was staring at her in shock and

horror. A Slayer was at least as strong as a vampire, and a vampire

was at least three or four times stronger than a normal human. She

had just hit a normal human with a blow that would nearly

incapacitate a vamp, long enough for her to stake it. In other words,

she had just hit one of her best friends with a punch strong enough

to kill him. All these thoughts running through her mind one after

the other stunned her into immobility. It was for that reason alone

that she was the last one to reach Xander's side.

"Careful, don't move his head," Giles said as he looked down in fear

at the young man that was becoming like a son to him. Xander's eyes

seemed to stare unseeing up at the sky and Giles knelt down close to

him and said, "Xander, can you hear me?"

"Of course I can hear you Giles," Xander said, not moving anything

but his mouth, "mutant enhanced hearing remember?"

"Are you hurt?" this from Willow who was wringing her hands in worry,

only Jenny's hand resting on the young hackers shoulder sufficient to

keep her from throwing herself upon her friend's chest.

Xander cast his eyes over and looked at Willow, smiling his trademark

grin, "Not a bit." He started to sit up and Giles rested his hand

upon his shoulder, "Steady, Xander, that was quite a blow. One like

that could easily pulverize a cinder block."

Xander's grin widened, "I know, Giles, but I'm fine, really."

"Then why weren't you moving?" Jenny asked, as relieved as the rest

that Xander seemed to be ok.

"Oh, that," Xander said sheepishly, as if just realizing that his

apparent immobility had terrified his friends, "I was just laying

there, wondering if that was what it was like to get hit by a truck,

and if it isn't, it's got to come close."

He finished sitting up and then waved the others away from him, to

give him room. Giles and Jenny took the hint and moved away, Jenny

pulling Willow away with her. After they had given them enough

distance Xander had rolled back and then kipped up to his feet. He

held his hands out to his side as if to say, "Ta da." and then he was

practically engulfed by a red-haired whirling dervish complete with

Willow-

babble, "ohgodXanderIwassoscaredyoudidn'tevenmoveandIsawhowhardshehity

ouandIknowthatshecankillyouwithonepunchandIthoughtIlostyouandpleasedon

'tdothatagain.." the rest trailed off into an incoherent mumble that

even Xander's newly enhanced hearing wasn't able to understand

because of the wracking sobs that accompanied it.

Xander looked up from Willow and over at Buffy, the one person that

hadn't spoken a word to him yet. She looked lost, completely zoned

out and he said, "Buff, you in there?" She looked up at him and the

look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. He smiled

what he thought was a supporting smile and adjusted his hold on

Willow's still sobbing frame and held out his arm to Buffy. She

hesitated only a moment before she practically leapt into the

embrace. Even over her sobs of relief her clear apologies for having

nearly killed him could clearly be heard by everyone.

Xander allowed the cry-fest to go on for a few moments more before he

finally pulled both girls away from him and said, "You didn't almost

kill me Buffy. That punch knocked me on my ass, sure, but I barely

felt it."

Buffy looked up at him in shock and said, "Really?" Xander

nodded, "Really."

"What are you saying Xander?" Giles asked, confusion clearly written

across his face. Xander looked at him and said, "I'm saying that

Adamantium laced bones work as advertised. Yeah she knocked me down;

there was no way a punch like that wouldn't. But it didn't really

hurt, I felt it, but it was not painful at all."

Giles began to try and stutter some kind of response when Jenny piped

in, "It's the Adamantium," she said as way of explanation. When

everyone looked at her she took it as tacit request to

continue. "Adamantium on his bones makes his entire skeleton like one

big crash cage. Buffy punching him in the jaw is about like trying to

punch a steel helmet, only stronger. Look at her hand."

For the first time everyone looked down at Buffy's swollen right

hand. Swelling that even now was becoming less and less, and the

bruising fading. "Wow," Buffy said, as she realized for the first

time the damage she had done. "It hurt but I didn't think I'd hurt it

that much."

Giles took a closer look and said, "This is incredible, you did that

kind of damage to your own hand, punching Xander?" He then got a look

of extreme anger on his features and said, "What in the Hell were you

doing punching him so hard." If it were possible the short girl

seemed to grow even smaller at her Watcher's thunderous demand. She

tried to meet his eye but she couldn't. She knew they were all

incredibly lucky. She could have easily killed Xander if he'd been

normal, and then where would they be? Finally she heard Xander's

voice say, "It's as much my fault as it is hers Giles, maybe even

more."

Every eye rested on him and Giles felt some of his anger began to

shoot in Xander's direction and the young man obviously felt it too

because he rushed to explain.

"I mean, we were sparring and all and getting faster and faster. We

were evenly matched Giles, you saw us. Then she got just a little

faster and well I guess I'm not quite up to a hundred percent yet

and, well, a lucky punch was bound to get through eventually."

"Lucky?" Buffy exploded before she realized what she was

saying, "I'll show you lucky you…" suddenly she realized she was

again the sole recipient of her Watcher's angry glare and she shut up

immediately, her eyes dropping to the ground.

Giles saw what effect his anger was having and relaxed somewhat. He

realized that the fear of hurting Xander was doing far more to the

girl's emotions than any amount of recrimination he could muster.

Also it was more a release of his own fear at Xander's possible

injury that was truly fueling his ire. Still, it had been close, if

Xander had been injured, or god forbid killed, Giles didn't even want

to consider the possibilities.

"Well, be that as it may," Giles finally said, "I think we should

call it a day, yes?"

"No way," Xander said, "I told you I'm fine. I want to see what else

I can do, especially with these babies." He popped his claws out with

that statement and Giles shuddered internally again as he saw the

three one-foot long claws erupt from the back of his right hand.

"Very well, if you insist Xander, but I think we should hold off from

any future sparring matches between you and Buffy until we ascertain

whether or not you suffer any effects from today's misfortunate slip."

"Is that British for you want to make sure she didn't scramble my

brains before you let us fight again?" the mutant youth asked her.

Giles sighed as he said, "Yes, that's exactly what I meant."

"Oh," said Xander, "then why didn't you just say that?"

Giles was about to fire back a response when he caught the gleam in

the youth's eye and he pulled his glasses off and rubbed his nose as

he again cursed to any God that might be listening, the humor of

American youth.

"Ok, now that we've made fun of the Brit in a sufficient fashion,"

Xander began, "Let's see what I can carve up?"

After the demonstration Xander did on various car parts, including

axels and engine blocks, there was no question on anyone's mind that

Xander's claws were definately going to live up to their hype, and

more importantly he could take care of himself, very, very well.


	4. Sunnydale Berserker 4: A Friend's Betray...

Buffy patrolled in an almost fog. The day had been an incredible one

and had been full of firsts for her, and everyone else. Xander's new

abilities could no longer be denied, and she knew in her heart that

now she never had any hope of keeping him, or Willow out of this

fight. Secretly she was glad for that. Ever since the death of her

first Watcher, Merrick she had assumed she was on borrowed time.

Everything she'd even been told, by him and by Giles only confirmed

that. Slayers hardly ever lived past two years. She hadn't, if it

hadn't been for Xander…

There it was again, her thoughts returning to Xander and his new

abilities. Of course even without them she knew that he would

probably have never stopped the fight. Oh she'd of tried to force him

out of it, of course. But he was stubborn, as stubborn as she was and

she knew he had a temper that wouldn't quit. When those two came

together he was a force to be reckoned with, and that was before

Halloween. Now, he still had the stubbornness, still most likely had

the temper, and now, now he had the strength and the power to back

both up.

Buffy couldn't help but give a slight shiver that had nothing to do

with the chilly November air. She couldn't help but remember the

beginning of the school year. When she had come back from L.A. and

been queen bitch to all her friends. Getting them kidnapped had been

the highlight of her failures since returning. If Xander had his

powers then, she didn't know if she'd even be here.

She shook the chill from her mind and tried to concentrate on

patrolling, wondering where Xander was right now. They had tried to

patrol together, a kind of coming out party for him. It had lasted

all of about an hour. Xander had said she traipsed through the

cemeteries like she was bull elephant on steroids. Did she even

understand the concept of stealth', he had asked. Naturally she had

gotten offended and told him she knew what she was doing.

FLASHBACK

"Maybe you do Buff, but how do you expect to catch any vamps when you

announce you're coming from like a block away."

"I don't announce," Buffy said defensively, "I'm very no announcy. I

can sneak up with the best of them Xander Harris, thank you very

much."

Xander snorted, "Sure Buff, I've seen more stealth from a blind fat

man in a china shop."

"Are you calling me fat?" she asked dangerously. Xander shook his

head, "Of everything I just said fat' is the word you want to take

issue on?"

He collapsed onto a gravestone, in defeat. "I think we need to face

facts Buff, we're two different people. The way we patrol is totally

different. I know you've got that whole super-girl confidence thing

going and that's great. I just, I need to be sneakier and less showy,

I'm sorry."

"Are you saying we can't patrol together?" she asked, almost hurt,

feeling like he was abandoning her.

"No, that's not, I mean yeah but I don't mean completely. I just," he

stopped and rubbed his hands through his hair, chuckling for a moment

at the way it stuck up on either side of his head. That was something

he was going to have to deal with before school tomorrow.

"I just think that we need to be away from one another when we

patrol. You can do what you want, I'll do my ninja creep thing in the

shadows and make sure you don't get anyone sneaking up on you, and

I'll also be able to catch any of the ones that try to run when they

hear you coming. I'll still be here, but I'll just be mister

invisible."

Buffy nodded her head, accepting that they were just far too

different to make patrolling together really work.

END FLASHBACK

That had been over an hour ago and she had no idea where Xander was.

He had said he was going to stay close, but she had no idea if he was

out there or not. He had vanished completely after their conversation

and she hadn't been able to sense hide nor hair of him since. It was

probably just as well, she thought. If she couldn't detect him, then

there was a good chance that the vamps couldn't sense him either.

She was brought out of her inner thoughts by the sound of a familiar

voice, "Angel?"

She said quietly as the approached the edge of the building she had

climbed up on to get a better vantage point over the immediate area.

She looked down and was startled at what she saw. Angel was talking

to an attractive woman in an old fashioned gown. She couldn't quite

make out what they were saying, being to far away even for Slayer

hearing but they didn't look like strangers. When the woman stepped

right into his personal space and caressed his face she felt a surge

of jealousy, and then fear. She hated that feeling, the sudden

insecurity when someone you thought you knew, wasn't who you thought

they were at all. She expected it from teen boys, she'd gone through

it enough at Hemry, but she didn't think she'd get the same thing

from Angel.

"Boys will be boys I guess." she heard from behind her. She spun and

saw Xander standing there with an almost sad look on his face. She

knew there was no love lost between him and Angel, but she also knew

that he'd get no satisfaction from this.

"I guess this makes you happy, huh?" she said, you were right about

him.

"Hey, whoa, slow down there Buff, he's just talking to her. We don't

know what the story is so we shouldn't jump to conclusions."

"I think conclusions are kind of obvious here, Xander," she said

waving her arms in Angel's direction. "Angel knows a good looking

older woman and they don't seem to hate one another."

"Knowing her and doing anything with her are two totally different

things." Xander said as he nodded his head towards Angel. Buffy

turned and saw that Angel and his mystery friend were leaving, in

opposite directions.

"I still don't like the guy Buff, and probably never will, for

obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean I'm going to automatically

think the worst of him." Buffy turned to him in disbelief, "Ok," he

said as clarification, "maybe I will but I'm not going to go shouting

it from the roof tops. I respect you too much to do that."

"Thanks Xander." she said, and gave his a quick hug. Xander returned

it and then said, "If we hurry you can catch tall, dark, and fangy,

and ask him what's the what."

Buffy considered it for a moment, and considered how it would feel if

Angle told her the woman was more than a mere acquaintance, and she

decided she couldn't handle that right now.

"No, that's all right, I'll seem him tomorrow."

Xander raised an eye brow at her, but said nothing. Instead he turned

and started going back the way they had come. Both Slayer and Mutant

were deep in thought but for different reasons.

AN: Where possible I'm going to put dates in to try and give a

reasonable sense of the passage of time. Looking over the series it's

easy to see where the date of certain things fall. For instance,

Amends, season three where the First tries to get Angel to kill

himself happens at Christmas time. Then helpless, where Buffy loses

her powers for that damn fool test, happens on her Birthday, so that

means her birthday is after Christmas. In season two, Innocence

happens, where Angel is soulless, happens on her birthday, and then

we get Phases and Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. Where we find

Oz is a ware-wolf and Cordy breaks up with Xander. Looking into the

full moons of 98, particularly Jan and Feb I found that the full moon

of Feb did in fact happen a few days before Valentines Day. So using

all this I can peg Buffy's B-day to either early Jan, or Early Feb.

Anyone that can lock it in for me a little closer than that let me

know.

Monday Morning

November 3, 1997

Xander walked into Sunnydale high for the first time in his life with

a spring in his step that he couldn't get over. Last nights patrol

had been a rousing success. He had bagged four vamps on his own and

he had done it without Buffy having any idea he was even doing it.

Let alone needing her help. He was a little down for his blonde

friend, after all finding out about Angel and his lady friend had

really been a blow to her he was in a good enough mood that he could

be optimistic about the outcome of that little problem. Plus if Angel

did end up breaking her heart, he might be able to talk the small

Slayer into letting him cut off some of Angel's parts.

In addition to that little happy he'd also had a good night with his

mom. He had come home to her cooking the first meal he could ever

remember her cooking and it had smelled delicious. She had said she

liked to cook when she and his father had first gotten married, but

as he slipped into his bottle home cooking wasn't as important as it

used to be.

Now however she was giving it another try. Something new with what

she hoped to be her new improved family she had said. They had spent

most of the night talking and he had gained further insight to both

her, and his father. It was going to take a long time to heal the

wounds but he was beginning to see just a little bit of light at the

end of that tunnel, and was willing to believe that just maybe, he

could have a real family. So overall just about everything was right

in Xander's world.

This of course meant something had to try and piss in his proverbial

corn flakes.

And that little golden stream of annoyance came in the form of none

other than Larry Blaisdale. Xander couldn't help but grin as the

football player made his way towards him. Xander took a sharp turn

and headed into a more secluded spot, he certainly didn't want to do

this in front of an audience. He remembered everything Logan had done

Halloween night and pounding on Larry the Pirate had been one of the

highlights of the evening.

Xander stopped in the hallway leading to the locker room and turned

to face the way he had just come, leaning up against the wall in a

relaxed way. Not a moment later Larry came around the corner with two

of his fellow players, Pete Hanson, and Ronnie Mayborn. Xander's grin

just widened.

"Hey there Lar, what's up?"

"You know it's amazing Harris," Larry said cracking his

knuckles, "but for some reason I feel that I really, really owe you

an extra pummeling today. And what do you know, you're bodyguard is

no where to be seen."

"Nope," Xander said, smiling as he stepped away from the wall to

stand in the middle of the hallway, "I fired her, told her I can

handle my own problems."

"Well that was pretty stupid, because with her around maybe you

wouldn't have gotten yourself all bruised up. And what's with that

pussy ponytail anyway?"

Xander shrugged, "Thought I'd try a new look, why you like it?" he

batted his eyes at Larry and delighted in the way the football

player's face turned red. But he also caught something else, a scent

that he could have sworn smelled like arousal. He shook his head to

clear it as Larry stormed at him like a bull.

Things seemed to suddenly move in slow motion for Xander, as his

combat reflexes kicked in. Instantly he saw that Larry's back up

hadn't stormed in with him, probably because they didn't think Larry

was going to need their help to pound on puny Harris. Xander

grinned at that, and nearly chuckled out loud at their mistake.

Xander decided that just a little showing off was in order here, as

it would send a message he needed sent.

He sidestepped the rushing football player and grabbed his shirt as

he started to rush by. Normally a maneuver like this wouldn't be

possible, but considering he outweighed Larry by nearly 300 pounds,

it was more than possible. Xander grabbed Larry's closest shoulder

with his other hand and then lifted.

The football player's feet left the ground and Xander held him

suspended for a second before he slammed him, reasonably softly to

the ground. The air was instantly knocked from Larry's lungs and

Xander didn't give him a chance to recover as he lifted him off the

ground and pinned him to the wall, his feet off the ground. He turned

his head sharply at the sound of moving feet and froze Larry's back

up in place with a look. Satisfied they weren't going to try anything

stupid he turned back to Larry.

"Larry, Larry, Larry," he began in a calm, cold tone, "you should

thank me, you know why?" Larry shook his head, fear driving him to

answer the person that had suddenly become very, VERY

frightening. "You should thank me because I decided to do this in

private. No one else in school needs to know that Loser Harris' beat

the shit out of the toughest jock in school without even breaking a

sweat. Wasn't that nice of me?"

Larry knew better than to do anything but nod his head. Fear still

robbing him of his voice as he felt his feet dangling off the ground.

Larry wasn't, despite some people's opinions to the contrary, a

stupid person. He was in fact quite intelligent. A fact he downplayed

out of fear of what his fellow football players might think. He had a

reputation to think about and so he played his part in the school

hierarchy, because he didn't know what else to do. Now here was this

guy, totally moving against it, and there was something in his look,

something that told Larry that Harris knew his secret. As Harris

looked down and then back into his eyes and grinned just a little

sadistically Larry knew for sure. Harris leaned in close to him so

there wouldn't be any doubt and said, "Also I'm gonna be real nice

and not tell anyone about that huge boner you've got right now

either."

Larry paled as Harris leaned back away from his and continued, as if

he hadn't just said that, "I'm gonna keep this little, altercation

between us, how about that? You guys don't tell anyone and neither

will I. You do, or try to make trouble for me or any of my friends

and not only do I tell EVERYONE in the school that I kicked you ass,

but I'll do it again in public, and the next time…I break bones."

The tone in his voice told Larry that Harris absolutely meant exactly

what he had just said. He looked over at Pete and Ronnie and knew

that they believed him too. He nodded his head in agreement and just

like that his feet were back on the ground and Harris had stepped

back two giant steps to give himself some room. probably in case I

try anything again, Larry thought, as if I'm that stupid.

His shoulders slumped as he headed back the way he had come with his

two friends in tow. Just as they were about to turn the corner Larry

heard Harris call his name and he looked back. The evil look in

Harris' eyes made him shudder, "Remember, Larry, we keep this between

us as long as you guys leave my friends alone, and don't try anything

stupid again, right?"

"Right," Larry said, trying to sound more brave than he

felt, "nothing stupid."

With that he took off with his friends, headed for class.

Xander watched Larry and his two friends go with no small amount of

satisfaction. He knew it was wrong to enjoy what he did. After all,

in his own way he had bullied Larry exactly like he'd been bullied

his entire life. Sure he could try to justify it, but he still knew

it wasn't right. Especially since he now knew that Larry had to keep

one hell of a secret to himself. In a way he felt bad for the jock,

after all, it had to be hard lying to everyone, including yourself,

everyday.

Finally Xander shrugged, it wasn't his problem after all. Larry would

find his way or he wouldn't, and it wasn't his responsibility to help

him. He looked at his watch and cursed as he realized how late it was

and that he was going to miss the girls if he didn't hurry.

As Xander came through the halls he couldn't help but overhear Giles

and Ms. Calendar talking about something that sounded suspiciously

like a date. The idea of two old people dating, and maybe getting,

together would have made his skin crawl prior to Halloween. Now

however he had a bit more maturity and thought it nice that Giles

might be able to find something other than being a Watcher to occupy

his time. God above knew the old guy needed to mellow out some. Of

course this new found maturity didn't mean Xander wouldn't harass the

hell out of Giles when the time was right.

He arrived just in time for class and was surprised at the looks he

received from his classmates. This was the first introduction of the

new Xander Harris and it looked like it was coming off perfectly. As

Xander took his seat next to Cordelia he couldn't help but grin as he

saw her looking at him out of the corner of her eye. He could smell

the interest she had in him coming off in waves. Once he might of

even thought about giving it a try with her. In retrospect he

couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before that their verbal sparring

held more to it than simple insults. Oh well, he mentally shrugged,

that time's come and gone. Could have been fun.

He turned from Cordelia and looked two the real interest he had now

and saw her deep in talks, by note of course since the teacher was

trying to begin class with Buffy. No doubt the Buffmeister was

pouring her heart out to her best friend. Oh Angel was with another

woman, I don't know what I'm going to do. Blah blah, blah. Sometimes

he really didn't understand women. And judging from the chuckle he

received from his little voice, it was obvious that that was going to

be a continuing sentiment of his life.

He tuned back in his seat and tried to listen to the lesson that the

teacher was trying to hold, he couldn't help but hold his head in

near physical pain as he listened to Cordelia give her interesting…

perspective on Marie Antoinette.

"She was going to let them eat cake." he heard her say. This was

going to be a long day.

Thankfully class ended as it always did and he quickly fell into step

behind his two best buds. Instincts older than him caused him to turn

and walk backwards a few steps, checking behind them for any possible

threats. It wasn't really necessary he knew, not here in school, but

this was still Sunnydale after all.

He turned back in time to hear Willow and Buffy beginning their talk

about the mystery woman from last night.

"I don't think so," Buffy said, "they seemed pretty friendly."

"I told you last night Buff, doesn't mean anything. You need to just

go talk to Angel and be done with it."

Willow looked at him with mild annoyance, "Oh yeah Xander, like it

wouldn't make your day if Angel was doing something with this woman."

Xander shrugged, "Would it give me a happy if Angel were doing

something wrong? Sure maybe, but not if it means he's gonna hurt

Buffy while he does it. I'm not that big a jerk."

Willow quickly tried to correct herself, "Oh, oh I didn't mean that,

I just meant that you know you've been jealous of him in the past,

this would be good for you."

Xander looked at Buffy then back at her, "Maybe once but not anymore,

interests have shifted." he allowed his eyes to linger on Willow for

just a moment before turning to Buffy, "I'm telling you Buff, all

things aside, my past jealousy and crush on you included. You just

need to talk to Angel, it would be much better than this moping."

Xander's turning to Buffy caused him to miss the duel looks of

confusion and hope that swam over Willow's delicate features. Buffy

however didn't miss it and, never being one to pass up a chance to

poke her nose into someone else's relationship said, "Are you saying

you're not interested anymore Xander?" She said it in such a way as

to make sure he knew there was no pressure to answer, and that she

wasn't trying to be rude, but that she also would like an answer."

Xander just shrugged noncommittally an said, "All I'm saying here is

that I'm your friend and I know that's all I'll ever be to you. Which

is cool, I've outgrown that and I'm looking onto something that I'm

pretty sure will be a whole lot better for me in the long run."

Then as quickly as he said it he immediately switched topics, trying

to get the conversation away from his love life, or current lack

there of. He wasn't quite ready to make the first move with Willow,

he wanted to make absolutely sure that she knew he wasn't "settling"

for her, and this little conversation, a god send in his mind was

just the thing he needed to do that. In a couple more days he'd be

ready to let Willow know how he felt.

"So, crazed dance party at the Bronze?"

Buffy didn't seem to enthused, although she did seem mildly amused by

his crazed dance maneuvers. He calmed a bit and said, "Very calm

dance party at the Bronze?" Still no enthusiasm, so he went for

broke, "Moping at the Bronze?" he finally asked as he slipped into

the seat next to Willow in one of the Common Area couches.

"I'd suggest Oreos dipped in apple juice, but maybe she's over that

phase."

"Ford?" Buffy asked in shock as she turned to the new guy that had

stepped up behind her.

"Hey, Summers. How you been?" he said and held his arms out to which

Buffy quickly jumped into for a hug."

"Oh my God!" Buffy exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Matriculating." Was the simple one word reply.

Buffy looked at him confused and said, "Huh?"

He smiled at her and said, "I'm finishing my senior year at

Sunnydale. Dad got transferred."

The look on his face as he said that indicated he wasn't happy about

moving to what most in L.A. would consider, the "Boonies".

Buffy seemed to ignore the look and said, "This is great?"

"You think so?" he asked uncertain, "I didn't think you'd remember

me."

"Remember you? Duh!" she said as if that was a stupid thing to

say, "We only went to school together for seven years. You were my

fifth grade crush."

"So," Xander said, interrupting the reunion, "you two know each

other?"

Immediately after he'd said it he felt Willow stiffen ever so

slightly beside him. The tone in his voice was probably a bit more

biting than he meant it to be. He could only imagine what his best

friend was thinking. He didn't care; he'd explain himself to her

later. From the moment the guy had come up there was something that

was just off about his scent. He was alive, Xander was sure of that,

but there was something there and he couldn't put his finger on it.

Whatever it was though it was making Xander damn uncomfortable. That

could be bad because now days an uncomfortable Xander could be a bad

thing.

Buffy seemed to suddenly remember her manners as she introduced the

guy as Billy Fordham.

"Hi." he said, with no emotion in his voice. Buffy looked at him a

little curiously he noticed but he just smiled. "Nice to meet you."

Willow said in her typical friendly way.

"Ford and I went to Hemry together in L.A." Buffy explained to Xander

and Willow before turning back to Ford and asking, "And now you're

here?"

Ford nodded, "Dad got the transfer and boom, here I am."

"So you were sweeties in fifth grade?" Willow asked. Xander couldn't

help but smile at her. She was already seeing how romantic it was

that someone from Buffy's past was here and it was someone that she

had crushed on when she was younger. Xander could see her point; at

least this guy had a pulse which was a major step up from Deadboy.

Still, something about him was rubbing Xander wrong and it was making

him nearly openly hostile to the guy. Xander knew he was going to

have a LOT of explaining to do to Willow.

He snapped his attention back to the conversation as Buffy explained

something about this Ford guy ignoring her back when she was younger.

He made some cute little joke about being a "manly sixth grader" and

everyone thought it was so funny. Xander laughed to be polite, his

thoughts still elsewhere.

It wasn't really until Buffy said something about moping, and

listening to a song "I touch myself" that Xander's attention snapped

back fully to the conversation. His eyes widened and Buffy blushed

over so slightly as she quickly explained she had no idea what the

song was actually about. Everyone grinned at her discomfort and

allowed her to quickly change the subject by inviting Ford to the

Bronze with them. Xander smiled ever so slightly; at least this guy

had pulled Buffy out of the funk she was in over seeing Deadboy with

that woman last night. So the guy couldn't be all bad, right?

"Oh only in the literal sense." Xander joked as Ford asked if he

would be intruding. Ford laughed and so did Xander but not before

Xander caught just the slightest look of hostility pass over Ford's

eyes. Xander would have sworn he imagined it any other time but now

he listened to his senses when they told him things. His eyes about

that look, and his nose about this guy's scent were ringing alarm

bells in his head and Xander made a silent decision that he was going

to be keeping his eyes on Mr. Fordham for the foreseeable future.

Buffy and Ford left together after than after mutual agreements to

link up at the Bronze. Xander watched them go and asked before he

knew what he was saying, "Gee, doesn't Buffy know any fat guys?"

"Oh that's what that song is about?" Willow asked, suddenly blushing

and Xander just looked at her and smiled, as he put his arm around

her shoulder and said, "You know Wills, don't ever change. I love you

just like you are."

He saw the shocked look on Willow's face as he said it and she smiled

uncertainly before Xander pulled her closer. Willow smiled, liking

the attention and Xander smiled at her, even as his mind started

processing what he was going to need to do about young Mr. Ford.

That night found the gang playing pool at the Bronze. Ford was

regaling them with stories of a ninth grade beauty contest, and a

Buffy Summers swimsuit moment that embarrassed the Slayer as she came

in to catch the tale end of it.

"Ford," she pouted, "Stop that. The more people you tell the more I

have to kill."

Ford just laughed, as did Willow. Xander himself also found it

amusing, but didn't say anything, instead concentrating on the table

in front of him.

Ford said, "You can't touch me Summers, I know all your secrets."

Xander couldn't help but comment as he asked, "Care to make a small

wager on that?" Buffy gave him a dirty look as she told them she was

going to grab a drink. Xander watched her go and saw her run right

into Deadboy.

Buffy just needed something to drink. She could feel the hostility

coming off of Xander in waves and she couldn't figure it out. She was

sure that he was telling her that he was interested in Willow, so why

was he acting like this towards her friend? It felt like jealousy but

that didn't make sense. Was it just something he was doing out of

habit. Or was he trying to be Mr. Protectiveguy, trying to protect

her from a possible disastrous ending like her dating prospects last

year with Dangerman. She didn't know but it was starting to bug her.

Maybe she could get Willow to take him out on the dance floor. Maybe

all those memories he had in his head now included some dancing

lessons and she could get Ford to herself with out Xander hovering.

Her internal musings were cut short as she ran right into Angel.

Xander had caught Deadboy's scent when he had come into the club but

had decided to let the evening play itself out. Now he was glad he

did as he watched the two awkwardly try to talk to one another. The

discomfort he immediately sensed from Ford was gratifying and he

couldn't help but dig the knife a little deeper as he told Ford that

Angel was someone special to Buffy.

"He seems older." Ford said, trying to sound blasé about it but not

quite reaching his goal. "You're not wrong," Xander said much more

cool about it. Acting as if this was all no big deal. Inside however

his mind was again processing new information. Ford seemed seriously

put out by Buffy having someone in her life. But was that because he

was looking to hook up with her, or was it something else. Xander

needed more information and he needed it soon. This verbal sparring

was getting him no where but in trouble with Willow and he couldn't

have that.

Xander winced as he was able to hear the conversation Buffy and Angel

were having and he heard him lie right to her face as he told her

that he had been all night last night reading.. That didn't bode well

for the vampire Xander knew and Xander could sense the hostility in

Buffy as she came back to the pool table.

"Hey Angel," Willow said, trying to be nice. She could sense

something was up as well, but not sure what it is. She looked at

Xander real quick who mouthed, Tell you later.' The redhead nodded

her head and they both turned back to watch Buffy introduce Deadboy

to Ford.

It was the way Ford commented about the broody vampire's hands that

finally caused things in Xander's mind to click. There was a tone

there, an almost, "I know something you don't know I know." tone that

Xander recognized. Ford knew about vampires. Xander wasn't sure how

he knew, and he didn't care. He was just as sure of this as he was

sure of anything else. Ford knew about vampires, and he was hanging

out with the Vampire Slayer. Did that mean he knew about Buffy too?

Xander didn't know for sure but his earlier plan to keep an eye on

the new guy in Buffy's life had just jumped in priority.

Buffy couldn't stand this. Angel had lied to her, and now he was

acting all possessive of her. Who did he think he was? Well she'd

show him, she made her feeble excuses to everyone and then invited

Ford to take a walk with her. She left out of the Bronze as quickly

as she could without running out the door.

As she and Ford were walking and she was trying not to answer all the

hard questions about her relationship with Angel she welcomed the

sound of a struggle as it reached her enhanced ears.

"Could you get my purse?" she asked Ford, as she tried to get him out

of harms way. Ford nodded and headed back into the Bonze. Or at least

he started to. He heard the unmistakable sounds of a fight and moved

in the same direction Buffy had. As he got closer to the alley he saw

a young woman come running out of the alley, crying. He watched her

go and kept moving and turned just in time to see Buffy slay a

vampire.

He couldn't help but smile at her feeble excuse of a cat, and he

decided to let her off the hook, explaining that yes, he'd seen her

kill a vampire, yes he knew vampires were real, and oh yeah, he knew

she was the Slayer too. Buffy's eyes widened in shock as she realized

this was going to be a very, very long night.

"So he told you just like that?" Willow asked later on the phone?"

"Yup," Buffy said, "he told me he found out right before I got booted

from Hemry."

"Wow," Willow said, "that's neat right, it is neat, since that means

you don't have to hide it from him."

The two girls talked a while longer. Buffy told Willow all about the

good things that could come about, if Ford knew about her night job

and could be trusted to keep himself safe. Willow for her part was

telling Buffy all about the strange new signals coming from her

bestest friend. Buffy didn't want to say anything that would get

Xander into trouble if she had misunderstood him, but she did give

Willow a few encouraging words about giving Xander another shot.

The two giggled about life and acted like teenaged girls do, never

knowing that the two men in their lives were involved in a little cat

and mouse game of their own.

Xander had seen Willow home shortly after everyone else had left. He

had begged off on a claim of being tired after last nights patrol and

still getting used to it. As soon as Willow had shut her front door

he was off like a shot. He reached the Bronze in record time and from

there began tracking for Buffy's and Ford's scent. Buffy's scent was

of course everywhere around the place, but not intermingled with the

new scent of Ford. He caught it and a direction and was off again,

shimmying up a fire escape and using the rooftops as cover.

Luckily for him Buffy and Ford hadn't gone far, just to one of the

too numerous graveyards of Sunnydale. He crouched down low onto a

Mausoleum and listened as Ford explained how he had found out all

about Buffy being the Slayer. Xander smiled at himself, for having

figured that out on his own, but at the same time he was confused.

Why would Ford tell her that if he really was up to something. He was

ready to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and decided that he'd

follow the guy for tonight, and if he just went home like a good

little boy, he'd apologize to Buffy and Ford tomorrow.

Of course that's not what happened, and Xander had to again curse

himself for his new found paranoia. Of course not too loudly, because

once again he'd been right.

Buffy had walked Ford home, or where he said his home was. He had

told her he wanted to stay out on the porch till she was gone and

Buffy had believed him. Not ten seconds after Buffy had rounded the

corner at the end of the block Ford was off the porch and headed back

towards downtown.

Xander followed him till he got to a dilapidated building, that

Xander could just hear music coming out of. He gave Ford a few

minutes then followed him into the underground club.

Xander's eyes widened as he realized that underground was appropriate

in more ways than one. Not only was this place guaranteed not to be

official, but the door he came in, led to another door and then

immediately down into what looked to be an old bomb shelter. Xander

passed a man working on the door, welding a lock to the entrance that

looked like it would only open from the outside, trapping whoever was

inside the club, inside. This was not good. Xander walked along the

catwalk above the main floor, mingling with the other patrons,

looking for, and finally finding Ford talking to a man and a woman.

Kids really, not much older than himself, if older at all. Xander was

just able to make out their conversation, and when he heard the

words, "true-believers" he knew what was going on here, and it made

his blood boil. He decided he needed to get out of here before he did

something he wouldn't regret later.

Willow was just getting ready for bed when she heard the knocking at

her window. "Xander?" she called quietly and opened the shades. It

wasn't Xander, but it was Angel. She looked at him confused, even

more so by the uncomfortable look on his face and asked, "Angel,

what's wrong?"

"I, I need your help with something Willow." the vampire said quietly.

"Help, like with homework?" she asked, knowing that wasn't the

answer, but she was nervous. She wasn't supposed to have boys in her

room and she was certainly not supposed to have vampire boys in her

room. Of course mom and dad had never made that rule because they

didn't know that vampires were real and would probably use me as a

research project if I brought it up but they'd probably make that

rule if the knew that vampires were real and that they want to come

in her room and…. ok, she needed to get a grip she told herself.

"I need you to look someone up on the internet for me." Angel said,

clarifying his reason for being there.

"Oh, because I'm net girl." Willow said, excitedly. Now they were

talking about something that she could handle.

"Right, could you, please?"

"Oh sure, who do you want me to look up?" she asked, booting her

computer up.

"Billy Fordham."

"Uh, Angel, you promise not to bite me if I tell you something you're

not going to like?" Willow asked nervously.

"You gonna tell me I'm jealous?"

"Well you do get that way, don't you Deadboy? And don't worry Will,

if he tried to bite you he'd exist just long enough to wish he

hadn't." Xander's voice came from the window.

Angel spun to face the boy that had so easily snuck up on him. That

wasn't supposed to happen. "How'd you do that?" Angel asked, trying

to keep his composure at the deadly look in the boy's eyes. Suddenly

the boy didn't look like a boy at all and Angel internally decided

that wasn't a title he'd use with him anymore.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Deadboy?" Xander said, his grin appearing

on his face, softening the glare he was giving the ensouled vampire.

"Xander stop," Willow said, a small amount of fire entering her

voice, "Angel is here because he's worried about Buffy and Ford."

Xander nodded his head, "I heard," he said tapping his left

ear, "remember super hearing now Will. I heard your conversation

while I was making my way up here."

"Super," Angel trailed off as he started paying attention to the

young man's scent in front of him. It suddenly hit him, he smelled

just like he had Halloween night. That would mean…"You've still got

your powers from Halloween, don't you?"

Xander just grinned at him and said, "You get a cookie, Angel." Then

he turned back to Willow. "You definitely want to go ahead with that

search Will. I just followed Ford to a club that is definitely not in

the phonebook."

"Followed Ford?" Willow asked, raising one of her eyebrows, "But I

thought you said you were tired and wanted to go to sleep."

"Well, I…That is I." Xander tried to explain but the hurt look on her

face just wouldn't let him. Finally he said, "I wanted to make sure I

was right before I said anything Will. I didn't want you to think I

was saying what I was saying out of jealously. I didn't want you to

think it was Buffy I was after anymore."

Angel noticed the calming effect the words had on the girl and he

grinned. Looks like Xander was finally over Buffy. This was good,

maybe that meant that he'd stop calling him that infernal nickname.

"So Overbite, what's got your underwear in a bunch over Ford?"

Or not.

Sunnydale High

Next morning.

Xander was in a foul mood. Ford was up to something and he was

looking to hurt Buffy to do it. Willow last night had had just enough

time to find that Ford wasn't registered for class, before her mother

called out asking if she was going to bed. Willow quickly ushered

both he and Angel out the window and told them she'd keep looking.

FLASHBACK

"It's probably nothing." she had said before closing the window and

drapes.

"That'd be nice." Angel had said, trying to be polite. He looked at

Xander and Xander smiled and said, "Yeah, I don't believe that

either."

"So you didn't tell me what got you suspicious." Angel said, as they

both moved down the street.

"That's right I didn't." Xander said.

Angel allowed the silence to reign for a few more moments before he

said, "Well?"

"Hold on a second, we're being watched." Xander said, so quietly only

Angel could have heard it.

Suddenly four vampires jumped out of the bushes. "Angel the traitor

you die tonight." the biggest one said, as the four leaped at the two

men.

"Xander run." Angel had screamed, as he fired off two quick punches

to the two closest vampires. Taking one to the side of his head for

his trouble.

It was in that moment, when Angel didn't even think about his own

safety, but told Xander to run for safety that Xander realized that

underneath the whole vampire thing was a pretty decent guy. Four on

one odds were no good at all, and he didn't even think about that,

all he thought about was keeping Xander, a guy who constantly

harassed and insulted him safe. Xander couldn't let that slide, not

one bit.

"I don't think so." Xander said, anger in his voice catching one of

the vampire's attention.

"Oh look," he said, as he approached Xander who simply stood there,

waiting, "the little mortal thinks he's going to protect his pet." He

laughed as he launched a devastating haymaker at Xander's head. Angel

was watching and didn't even have time to shout a warning…not that it

was needed.

Xander watched the punch come in and threw one of his own, right into

the vampires punching hand. The muffled sound of bone hitting metal

was just audible before the vampire yelled in pain and yanked back

his now broken hand. The vampire never had a chance however to study

it before there was a distinct, Snikt' sound and his head was

separated from his neck.

The other three vampires froze as did Angel in that moment. Even

knowing that whatever happened to Xander on Halloween night was still

with him hadn't prepared Angel for the sheer brutality of it. There

was no hesitation, no thought; he simply removed the vampire's head

as if he were swatting a fly. Angel gulped, realizing that could be

him if he ever pissed Xander off enough. Then those thoughts ended as

Xander dove at the three remaining vampires that had been doing their

best to slam a stake into Angel's chest.

END FLASHBACK

Xander shook his head to clear it. It had been a quick, brutal fight

and the three vampires hadn't had a chance. After it was over Angel

offered to walk Xander home and Xander had just looked at him as if

to ask if he was retarded.

"Sorry." the vampire had said after seeming to realize how stupid it

was to think he needed to protect Xander from what was out here.

"It's alright….Angel. I've got a better idea, why don't we find

ourselves a cup of coffee or something. Sit down and, have a talk."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Angel asked, grinning slightly.

Xander just looked at him shocked; he'd never heard him make a joke

before. He just chuckled and said, "Keep it up Angel and I'll do more

than clip your wings."

It was his turn to laugh at the slight nervous look that suddenly

crossed Angel's face and the two allies moved off and indeed found

their cup coffee.

Xander didn't know what had happened last night, but somewhere along

the way, the two had made some kind of peace. He wouldn't ever really

like Angel, because he couldn't forget what he was. Somehow he didn't

think Angel wanted him to forget. He somehow got the feeling that

Angel was relieved at the powers Xander now had, as if he could keep

people safe from Angel should something ever go wrong. It was a

tentative peace to be sure, but it was something.

Xander walked into the school and gave a deep breath, looking for one

scent in particular. He found it sure enough and headed directly for

it. He found Willow trying to do this nervous dance thing with Ford

and Buffy, trying not to spill the beans about her looking into

Ford's records.

"Hey Wills, got that thing in the computer lab for me done yet?" he

asked as he came up. HE could see the utter relief on her face as he

asked and she said, "No I was just going to get it, but Buffy and

Ford wanted to hang."

Xander nodded, "Oh yeah sorry guys, Wills helping me catch up on some

computer make up. I don't want to be the only one that doesn't know

how to use the thing, you know?"

Ford and Buffy had nodded and Xander took Willow's elbow and guided

the now extremely guilty hacker away, whispering in her ear that she

did great.

As they entered the computer lab Xander sat Willow down for a few

moments so she could catch her breath. "Are you ok?" he asked, the

concern evident in his voice and Willow nodded, "I just don't like

lying to her like that and not telling her is just as bad as lying

and I don't know what I'm going to tell her when I do tell her and oh

do you think she's gonna be mad at us."

"Breath, Will, breath. You're going to pass out."

He took her hands and said, "Hey, don't worry; it's going to be fine,

I promise."

"O, ok." she said, calming down somewhat. He looked at her for a few

more moments and then asked, "Ok, now what do we need to do?"

"More research, that's what." Willow said, as she booted up the

computer. Xander took a spot up behind her, softly rubbing her

shoulders, as she looked for more information on Billy Fordham. If

Xander had been in front of her he would have seen the content smile

on her face as he gently rubbed her shoulders in support.

That night found Angel, Xander, and Willow going back to the club

that Xander had seen Ford in. Apparently there was a connection and

Willow and Angel wanted to see it for themselves.

They had found it all right and Angel was as disgusted as the rest of

them were. Perhaps even more so because he knew what being a vampire

was like and he couldn't believe that anyone could romanticize that.

He had called them all fools and basically pissed all of them off.

Xander had suggested a hasty retreat at that point as he wasn't

looking for a fight.

They had all left, and Angel had gone to Buffy's hoping to explain

everything they had found out. Xander had suggested that he explain

his relationship with the woman Buffy had seen him with the other

night. Angel had blanched slightly at that and had taken off a moment

later.

The next morning Xander found Giles and got an update from him. Giles

explained that Buffy had called him from his date with Ms. Calendar

at monster trucks of all things to tell him that Ford and she had

found vampires at the school. While there they had discovered that

Drusilla, a vampire Angelus had turned was still alive. It turned out

that was who he was talking to in the playground two nights ago.

Even more damning to Ford's case was that a vampire he had claimed he

had staked was the one that had succeeded in stealing one of Giles'

books. None of the books in Giles possession were things you wanted

falling into the wrong hands. Xander made a command decision at that

point and went out looking for Ford.

He found him looking for Buffy and when Ford saw him he asked, "Hey

Xander, what's up? You seen Buffy?"

Xander looked around and, seeing that no one was watching said, as he

grabbed Ford by the throat, "Listen to me wise ass, I don't know what

your game is, but I've got a pretty good idea. You and those freaks

in that club want to make a deal with some vamps, and you're going to

trade them Buffy for eternity. Right or wrong? And just so you know,

I can hear your heartbeat and if you lie to me, well let's just say I

can squeeze a lot harder than this. Got me."

Xander could see the utter fear in Ford's eyes and knew that he was

deciding whether or not he could get away with a lie, finally he

nodded his head and Xander put him down.

"Talk and talk fast." Xander commanded, and he did.

Ford told him all about how he was sick and he was afraid to die.

That fear had driven him to use the knowledge he had of Buffy being

the Vampire Slayer to try and make a deal. He wanted to live and he

didn't care how he did it.

Xander just shook his head, "Your game is up, loser. Angel, her

boyfriend told her last night everything we found out. I don't

imagine she's going to be too interested in seeing you anymore. The

best thing you can do is just leave. Get out of Sunnydale and don't

come back."

Ford sneered at him, "It's so easy for you to judge me, isn't it?

You're healthy; you don't have to worry about dying, what about me

huh?"

"HEY asshole," Xander said, stepping right into the guy's face, "I

risk my life every night in this damn town, trying to keep people

safe from the very thing you want to become? I don't know what kind

of dream world you're living in but wake up, vampires KILL people and

they like it. Now get out of town, and if you ever show up in this

town again I'm just gonna assume you're here to hurt Buffy and I'll

kill you first, you got it?"

Ford just nodded his head sadly and turned and walked off. Buffy came

up a few moments later, and saw Ford heading off.

"Where's he going?" she asked, although from her tone Xander could

tell she really didn't care.

"He's dying Buffy. That's what this was all about. He's dying and

he's scared, and he didn't want to take that final dirt nap. So he

figured he'd make a deal with Spike and Dru, and give them you in

exchange for eternity."

He turned to his friend, he saw the tears forming in her eyes,

although he didn't know if it was from the information that Ford was

dying, or that he was ready to betray her in such a fashion. In the

end it didn't matter as he opened his arms to her and she went into

them as he gave her a hug. He saw Willow standing up near the

school's entrance and he guided the tearful Slayer up the stairs and

into the waiting arms of her friend. As he headed into the school

Xander took one last look at the broken figure that was Billy

Fordham. He shook his head and then headed back into the school.


	5. Haunting Pasts

16

AN: After posting part 4 I found out I've been spelling "berserker" wrong. I appreciate no one pointing out that I'm an idiot but I'll be spelling it right from now on.

AN2: This part includes a short but brutal fight that I hope satisfies the blood lust some have expressed with seeing Xander in action. More to come on that I assure you.

AN3: To the jerk who sent me a scathing flame and told me that all I'm doing is plagiarizing the episodes that already exist I say to you UP YOURS. The entire concept of what I'm doing is that ONE THING has changed and how that will effect things. I'm not going to change EVERYTHING that happens early on because Xander being Wolverine  
wouldn't have that profound an effect. Some things are going to happen just as they did in the show. I use the episode as a guide, including some things and then branch off. As I continue more and more things will change but you can either wait for that to happen, or you can quit reading it, I don't give a DAMN which. But EVERYONE that's watched the show knows what I'm using from the episodes and what's mine. I'm not claiming anything that isn't mine, so shove it.

Thursday November 6, 1997

Nighttime Crestwood Cemetery

"I'm tellin' ya Wills ya don't need to come with me on patrol; I'm perfectly fine on my own." Xander said exasperated, as Willow tried to keep up with him.

"No way Xander," the redhead said forcefully, "Buffy wanted me to keep an eye on you. Even though she's training with Giles she said that's no reason for you to be doing her job."

Xander shook his head as he looked at Willow trying to be as quiet as he was. When was Buffy going to get it through her head that this isn't "her" job alone; not anymore. They're all in this together. It was ok that Giles wanted to do some extra training with her; he could pick up the slack for one simple night. A few quick sweeps through the cemetery, maybe a buzz by the Bronze, then home for a nice evening with his mom. But nope, Buffy still had to act like she needed to protect Xander and had asked Willow of all people to go with him and "keep him out of trouble."

He'd almost laugh at the idea if it wasn't so insulting. He didn't need a babysitter. He was perfectly capable of handling just about anything that might come up. He was definitely going to have a talk with Buffy tomorrow and again remind her that he wasn't helpless. He stopped to get his bearings and to let Willow catch her breath. As she stood there looking around nervously he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe having Wills along for the ride wasn't so bad after all.

For her part Willow thought she was doing an excellent job of being quiet. This was no small feat for someone that was normally a chatter box, especially when she was nervous. She had told Buffy that Xander was planning on patrolling tonight to give her and Giles a chance to do some training and Buffy had practically insisted that Willow go with him

She didn't see what the point was; Xander was all super-powered now, like Buffy. She had thought that maybe there was something there, but he hadn't made a move in days. Since Ford had left town and Buffy had needed comforting. Something she was more than willing to provide of course, she was Buffy's friend. She did however notice that Xander had been more than willing to offer his own shoulder to the blonde Slayer as well. Willow shook her head sadly. It looked like she was still going to play second fiddle in Xander's heart.

Xander noticed that Willow seemed unusually quiet, almost melancholy and so he had decided he'd have a talk with her. It was time, he decided that he tell her what he was feeling. He had wanted to make sure that she knew that he wasn't taking her as an alternate prize as opposed to Buffy, but from the way she was acting he was starting to get the sinking impression that he had still screwed this up. He turned and took a calming breath before he started, "Hey Wills, I wanted to ask you if OMPFF!!!!" Naturally this was when a gang of vampires decided to make themselves noticed.

Willow screamed when she saw the huge vampire smash Xander in the face with his fist. The blow was devastating and it spun Xander around nearly a full 360 degrees, before he lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground.

Two more vamps seemed to appear out of the shadows and one of them grabbed Willow. The other had a sickening grin on his face, made even more horrible by the 'Game' face he was wearing. He looked her over and said, "Yup these are the two friends of the Slayer all right. Pretty stupid of you; taking a lovers walk without your bodyguard."

"What are you going to do?" Willow asked, wondering if Xander was ok. He had taken a pretty good shot and the other vampire was pounding on him pretty hard.

The apparent ringleader just chuckled, "Oh it's real simple, we're going to gut your friend here and leave his innards as a present for the Slayer. You on the other hand, I'm thinking we'll take you with us for a few days." Willow shuddered in fear as he leaned in and licked her neck before continuing, "Then we'll probably turn you and send you as a present to the Slayer too."

Something inside Willow snapped and she screamed, not in fear but in anger. Her scream caught him off guard and so she was able to land a solid kick up between the vampire's legs. It was a good shot, and he momentarily went to his knees. Unfortunately for Willow the vampire holding her never loosened his grip on her shoulders. So she was forced to stand there as the vampire she attacked slowly got back to his feet. His yellow eyes practically glowed in anger as he grabbed her throat and said, "That was stupid bitch, maybe we'll keep you for a month instead, what do you boys think?"

Any answer was drowned out by the angry growl of an animal. The three vamps looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from, until the one on top of Xander screamed in pain. The other two looked down to see at the human appeared to be grabbing their partner by his nuts. They didn't understand why that would cause this reaction, however they quickly found the truth to be far worse.

Xander shook his head, trying to get his bearings. The blow hadn't really hurt; so much as it shocked the hell out of him. The blow had hit him just as he was turning his head so that motion had actually added to the power of the blow and it had totally knocked him off balance. He was angry with himself for having not sensed the vampires before they got this close, but they had come at him down wind. He didn't know if it was planned so much as just plain rotten luck. He was getting ready to move, the blows the vampire was raining down on him to "subdue" him little more than an annoyance. That was until the other two vamps grabbed Willow. He froze in fear for the girl who now, unbeknownst to her, held his heart. Fear of her getting injured before he could get to her kept him still. The vamp on top of him was mistaking his stillness for defeat.

It wasn't until the vamp in front of Willow talked about keeping her that the rage inside of him started to bubble. When he leaned in and kissed her neck the bubbling turned into a furnace, and he was getting ready to move when he was shocked out of his anger by Willow's actions. He stared in shock at the mighty kick, almost wincing in sympathy for the male vampire. He looked up at Wills, she didn't look to him because she was too busy looking at the vampire she had just kicked, but if she had looked she would have seen pride in his eyes.

Then the angry vampire stood and grabbed her by her throat and said, "That was stupid bitch, maybe we'll keep you for a month instead, what do you boys think?"

It was at that moment that his rage exploded from inside of him with the heat and power of a nova as his vision went red…no one touched his Willow. Not now, not ever.

He didn't bother with pretense as he buried all three of his claws in the crotch of the vampire that was holding him. It screamed in a most satisfying way as Xander slammed a devastating punch into the vampire's jaw. There was an audible snap and the vampire's body seemed to almost levitate off of Xander as it flew backwards like a marionette with it's strings cut. The other two barely had time to react before Xander rolled forward, coming up just behind and to the left of the vampire that had talked about keeping Willow. Adamantium enforced knuckles caught the vampire in the side of the head with a sledgehammer like blow.

Xander said two words, "Will, DOWN!!" as he came back with the same right hand. This time claws out, and he caught the vampire holding her at the neck. The vampire had just enough time to look shocked before he started to collapse and his head came away from his neck and his body and head both exploded into dust.

Xander took just a moment to check and make sure that Willow was ok before he spun back to the two still remaining vampires. The one he had clawed in the crotch was still twitching on the ground, evidence to Xander that his punch had most likely broken its neck. That was fine by him. He looked at the vampire that had done all the talking.

The vampire was just recovering from the punch to its head and looked around getting its bearings. One of his guys was still on the ground. He would have thought him weak if he himself had not felt the power in one of this human's punches. Humans weren't supposed to be this strong. That thought was quickly replaced by another as he looked into the human's eyes, THIS was no ordinary human. Those eyes help nothing for him but destruction and he quickly turned to run.

He only got three strides however when he heard a sound that couldn't possibly come from a human throat and he was taken down in a flying tackle. He spun and tried to fight back. Landing a blow that should have decapitated a normal man, it only seemed to make this thing angry. The first blow to his face felt like he was hit by one of the pile drivers he used to work with before he was turned. The next two blows were almost as hard. By the fourth he was slipping into unconsciousness and by the sixth he was blissfully unaware of the rest of the blows that rained down on his head, crushing cartilage, ripping tissue, and pulverizing bone.

Willow could only stare in numb horror. She had loved reading Wolverine comics with Xander as a kid. They were a guilty pleasure for the bookworm, something her mother and father would never have approved her wasting her time on. But she had read them and enjoyed them and had always been amazed at the "berserker rage" as it was called. It was at those times that she tried to imagine just what Wolverine would really be like. Now seeing it in true Technicolor it was a horrifying sight. Xander was pounding on the vamp like he was possessed, and in a moment of clarity Willow realized he was. She watched the vampire closely, looking for any sign of consciousness, but it had long since ceased any movement at all, but he didn't seem to care. Slowly she approached him, and called his name. She didn't know if he would even hear her.

Apparently he did because he froze in mid swing at her voice. Slowly he turned and looked at her, and the look in his eyes nearly sent her running in terror despite herself but she quashed that feeling down. This was still her Xander, and nothing would change that. She couldn't let what had happened change anything. He had saved her life, how could she give him her fear for that.

Slowly, Xander turned back to the vampire and seemed to see for the first time what he had done. Willow heard a sound escape his throat that was somewhere between a gag and a grunt and he stepped back, dropping the body away from him as he did so.

Xander turned to Willow, and she looked into his eyes. She saw it there in those deep brown orbs; she saw his fear, fear at her reaction. She stepped up to him and held her arms out and he gratefully went into them. She held him as he sobbed. Not at what he had done, because there was nothing to be sorry for there, he was sorry that she had seen him do it. That she had seen him like that. She held him gently, and rocked him till he calmed. She looked over his shoulder and saw that the first vampire he had hit was starting to stir.

She pulled away from him gently and went to the vampire, pulling one of her stakes as she did and buried it in the monster's chest. He exploded into dust and she quickly put her stake away. She turned to see that Xander was now standing back over the vampire he had beaten. He didn't say a word as he bent down and severed its head. He turned and went to Willow and picked her up, hugging her tightly, "I thought I was going to lose you Will."

She was shocked into stillness by the raw pain in the voice. It wasn't just the sound of someone that was a friend; this was the sound of love. She didn't know how she knew it, she just did. This was someone that loved her. She hugged him back, clutching him fiercely.

Xander stopped the hug for a moment and stepped back. Willow looked questioningly at him as he stepped in closer, cupping her face as he did. She saw a look in his eye and she dared to hope it could be the look she had so desperately wanted to see in them. She didn't know why, but she had to be sure, she had to ask, "Xander, what are you doing?"

Her friend didn't answer her at first, as he simply stroked the side of her face. Finally he said, "I'm ending our friendship."

Willow's face betrayed her shock at his words, until the true meaning of the words slammed into her. Any uncertainty was dispelled as Xander leaned in and kissed her full on the lips. She lost herself in that kiss; amazed that it was as wonderful as she had ever thought it would be.

This would be a day that she would remember for the rest of her life, no matter how long or short it might be. On the Hellmouth that was the way one had to think.

Willow and Xander were making their way towards the school. They had both decided that it was prudent to let Giles and Buffy know what had happened tonight. As they were making their way to the library they heard the unmistakable sound of someone screaming for help. Quickly they took off, heading for the sound of the yells.

Xander arrived first and saw a middle-aged man pounding on the door to the library. Xander could hear the sound of Buffy's workout music coming from inside. As loud as it apparently was the pounding was pointless. Xander also saw, smelled the decaying figure approaching the man. He moved into action with all the speed that his enhanced reflexes could give him and he slammed into the decaying, thing, knocking it away from the man.

The man was relieved to see Xander and said, "Please, please you must help me. I must find Rupert Giles." Xander saw the thing starting to get up, his first instinct was to stay and fight but now he had two people to protect and he didn't know if there were more of them. Tactics won out over instincts and he pushed the man aside and used his body as cover as he popped his center claw through the lock, effectively destroying the lock.

He yanked the door open and quickly he pushed the man and Willow in through the door before slamming it closed. A chair shoved down into the handle made an effective door jam as whatever was on the other side of the door tried to get in.

"Willow, get to the library." Xander ordered. The redhead took off like a shot. The man moved as if to follow her and Xander locked his hand around his shoulder and said, "Uh uh, you stay with me. Till I know who you are you're not going anywhere with my girlfriend alone."

Xander grinned to himself, not even an hour and the words "girlfriend" had rolled off his tongue as if it was always meant to. Quickly he turned back to the matter at hand as he could hear the thing on the other side trying desperately to get in. He grabbed on and held it with all his strength. Whatever this thing was, being rotten sure wasn't taking away its physical strength. He could feel the door starting to give way.

Just then he heard Buffy and Giles come running up with Willow.

"Xander, Xander what's going on? Willow said..." Giles stopped in mid-sentence as he saw the man with Xander.

"Philip? Philip is that you? My god man, what are you doing here?"

The man in question, Philip said, "It's Eyghon, Rupert, he's back."

The color totally drained from Giles face as he heard this. Xander took it in for a moment then said, "People, not to ruin a good reunion but we have major strong dead thing tryin' to get through this door and I don't know how much longer I can," then just like that it stopped. Xander could just hear on the other side of the door, "Hey what's all that noise? I hey NO HEL…"

Xander slammed the door open, but it was already too late, Mr. Larmey, the school janitor was lying on the ground. His neck turned at an impossible angle. The thing that had done it seemed to freeze for a second, and then collapsed to the ground. It quickly disintegrated into a puddle of green goo.

"Disgusting." Xander heard Willow comment. He had to agree. That however wasn't the thing on Xander's mind. He tuned to a still pale faced Giles and said, "So Giles, who, or," he looked over at the puddle and then back at Giles, "WHAT is Eyghon?"

If it were possible even more of the color drained from the Watcher's face.

The police came and went, taking the body of another victim of "gang activity" with them. They had mostly talked to Giles since he was the adult and had told him and the others that they would possibly have more questions for them at a later time, but if it was anything like usual, they'd "forget".

After they had gone, Xander had cornered both Philip and Giles and said, "Ok Giles so let's have it, who is Eyghon?"

"It's not your concern, Xander. I will take care of it."

"Take care of it?" Xander asked incredulously, "Giles, it was here at the library, on school grounds and because of what I did, rather than your friend here dying, someone else did. I made a decision; I took action that resulted in someone's death. I think that qualifies as our problem, don't you?"

Xander actually took a step back at the anger he saw in Giles eyes. This was not the tweed wearing befuddled Englishman he had come to begin to care for like a father, this was something else, this was someone else.

Giles stood and started the young man down, and said, "I appreciate your concern Xander, and I'm sorry about Mr. Larmey's death certainly, but I am telling you unequivocally to stay OUT of it. Now I will see you all tomorrow. Philip, I have a guest room you can stay there."

The two men stood and started to head out of the library. After they were gone Xander looked at his two best friends, "So what do we do?"

"I don't know, I mean if Giles says he can take care of it, shouldn't we let him?" Willow asked. Always willing to defer to her elders, it was one of the things that made her so sweet.

"Maybe we should wait till tomorrow. See what Giles has to say then. Maybe he'll be a little calmer." Buffy said. It was two to one and Xander knew he wasn't going to change their minds. They were still willing to assume Giles knew best simply because he was older. Xander knew now that wasn't always the case but he'd never convince them of that.

"Ok," Xander said finally, "We'll wait and see what happens tomorrow."

"Walk me home?" Willow asked, grinning impishly as she did. Xander caught onto her infectious grin and said, "Absolutely."

Friday, November 7, 1997

Sunnydale High School

The next morning found Giles and Ms. Calendar discussing a book she had borrowed. When Buffy, Willow, and Xander came up to them Giles was completely unwilling to discuss the events of the previous evening. Instead he immediately started telling Buffy about her assignment the coming evening, a shipment of blood for the hospital.

Ms. Calendar distracted the youths by discussing the Saturday computer class they would have to attend, sans Buffy who wasn't taking computers. Xander was trying to figure out a way to avoid the class, as it would involve school on Saturday and Cordelia as well. The attractive teacher would have none of it however and she left with Giles as Xander was still trying to explain he didn't need the class anymore. Of course it fell of deaf ears.

That night found the three friends waiting for the shipment, no Giles to be found. Buffy was getting worried, and so was Willow. Xander was starting to get concerned himself, but he was trying to keep it out of his face and words so as to try and make his two friends less nervous. It was working so far. At one point he had joked that maybe Giles was spending some quality time with Jenny Calendar. Both girls had given him a dirty look for putting that image into their heads.

The shipment showed up and the doctors from Sunnydale General took it from the delivery truck. Of course as soon as the truck was gone Buffy had inquired, "Since when do doctors take deliveries?"

As if in answer lights of a formerly hidden car came on and it pulled up to the now game-faced pseudo doctors. Buffy took one look at Willow and Xander and said, "Show time."

Quickly she and Xander moved into attack the vampires. Xander spun at the sound on approaching footsteps and had to pull back from decapitating Angel who had arrived to help. The fight didn't last long after that of course. As they were calming down Xander looked at Angel and asked, "How did you know about this?" Angel shrugged and said, "Its delivery day, everyone knows about this."

Xander just shook his head and said, "Ok, all joking aside, where the hell is Giles?"

Buffy looked at him, and said, "I thought you weren't worried, 'Mr. Quality-time?"

He just glared mildly at her, "Oh come on, Buffy? Giles late for something like this? Are you kidding? The guy counts tardiness as one of the deadly sins. Of course I'm worried. I just didn't want you guys to worry. There's something definitely going on with his friend and I think it's time we found out."

"I don't think he's going to appreciate us storming in and demanding he tell us what's going on." Willow said.

"You're probably right, Wills," Xander said, "But that doesn't mean he doesn't need to tell us."

"Ok," Buffy said, "How about you guys get the hospital the blood, and I'll go over to his place and try and get him to talk."

Xander looked down at the blood and said, "Are we sure the hospital's going to want this stuff?"

"They only drank from one of them," Angel said, "The rest are ok."

They nodded to that information and Xander said, "Alright Buff, we'll take care of our end, you go take care of yours."

Buffy nodded and was quickly off. Xander and Willow watcher her go and Willow asked, "You sure she'll be able to get him to talk?"

Xander shook his head, "No, but we've got to try something. We've lost one person already because of this; I don't want to lose anymore innocent people. Besides I've got enough to worry about that's making this a bad week already," he said, Willow knowing instinctively he meant last night's vampire attack on them, "I don't need anymore this week."

Angel could sense something wrong with the young man, but he knew they still weren't friends and there was no way Xander would talk to him. He sighed as he picked up the container of blood packets and the three walked into the hospital.

Buffy approached Giles door and knocked softly. She waited patiently and heard someone moving inside. The door unlatched and Giles opened the door just enough to stick his head out, "Oh Buffy, is something wrong?"

"Yeah, Giles, there is. Hospital? Meals on wheels for vamps? Blood delivery? Any of these things ringing a bell?"

"Oh, oh right. Well, are you hurt?" he asked, his voice showing at least some concern for her well being.

"My feelings maybe," she said, with a slight pout, "Giles what's going on?"

"I'm sorry Buffy I'm trying to take care of some important business. Now if you'll excuse me I'll see you on Monday." He started to shut the door but her hand easily stopped the motion.

"This business have anything to do with Eyghon?" she asked, "Because Xander is still a little upset about last night and so am I. Giles it's supposed to be my job to fight things like this. You're not supposed to be keeping me in the dark."

His face seemed to soften ever so much and he said, "I'm sorry Buffy, but you're going to have to learn that some things have to be taken care of without you. Good night." He then shut the door before she could overcome her shock at his brusque tone.

Saturday November 8, 1997

Morning

Sunnydale High

The following morning found Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Ms. Calendar headed into the school computer lab. Xander was still practically whining about having to attend.

"I'm telling you guys Logan was like a whiz with a computer. Everyone thought he was just a brawler, but he wasn't. He was a highly trained covert operative, and computers were one of his specialties."

Ms. Calendar listened with no small amount of amusement, and a great deal of interest. Finally she said, "Well, I'll tell you what, Xander, you show me you're up to speed on this and you won't have to come back next weekend."

"Excellent," the teen said; "Besides I don't see why we need computers anyway."

"Let's see," Ms. Calendar said, "There's home, school, work, games."

"Ah, I think computers are on the way out. Paper's going to make a huge comeback." Xander said, smiling.

"Oh yeah," Willow said, returning his smile, "and the Abacus."

"You know you don't see enough abaci."

"Alright that's enough you two." Ms. Calendar finally said, smiling, "Get in there."

As everyone sat down Ms. Calendar began, "Ok, now the first thing we're going to do is….Buffy?"

Xander's head snapped up, "Huh? What's wrong?" he asked seeing the stress in her face.

"It's Giles," she said in answer to his question, "Things didn't go so well."

"What is it, what's wrong with Giles?" Ms. Calendar asked, concern for Giles snapping to the foreground immediately.

"We're not sure; something happened the night before last and, well something attacked us." Xander said, looking at Cordelia for a moment then dismissing the idea of euphemisms around her, she knew about the night life and they didn't have time to be nice about anything.

"It was a zombie, I'm pretty sure, or at least something like it. It's what killed Mr. Larmey, and it was after a friend of Giles'" Buffy said in explanation, coming to the same conclusion about Cordelia as Xander had, "They said something a name, what was it?" She seemed to lose focus as she tried to remember the name that Giles had spoken last night, "Eihon?" she guessed.

"Eyghon," Willow called out, "He said Eyghon."

Jenny looked in thought and said, "That sounds familiar, but I can't place the name. I think it's some kind of sleeping demon but I'd have to check?"

"Man," said Xander, "don't people know well enough to let sleeping demons lie?"

He looked up as everyone just stared at him in shock; he simply smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm taking credit for that one since I don't think Logan ever had quite my gift for humor."

Cordelia looked at him strangely and asked, "What is your deal? Who is Logan?"

Xander just looked at her and said, "Cordelia, it's not about you so don't worry about it because we don't have time."

He didn't notice the wounded look his comment caused Cordelia as he turned to Buffy and said, "What happened when you went to see him last night? No explanation?"

Buffy shook her head, "Nothing, he said I couldn't help him, and I think he was drinking?"

"He was home alone drinking?" Jenny asked worriedly.

"But tea right?" asked Willow, the look on her face almost enough to break someone's heart.

"It wasn't tea, Wills." Buffy said sadly.

"And from the look on your face, I guess there weren't frolicking whores involved in this drinking either, was there?" Xander asked, already knowing the answer.

"He was alone," Buffy confirmed, "Or at least I think he was, his friend might have still been there."

"So Giles is hiding at home; maybe with an old friend, maybe not, while there's a demon or at least a demon's zombies in town killing people. Does that about sum it up?" Xander asked angrily.

"Maybe," Buffy said, "I don't know it's just; he's acting so anti-Giles I don't know what to think. He won't let me in, literally or figuratively and I don't know what we should do."

"I'll tell you what we do," Xander said, "We go over to his house, we kick in his door and we MAKE him tell us what this thing is and then we kill it."

Cordelia snorted, "Oh right Xander, like you're going to kill anything. Holding Buffy's purse while she kills a demon doesn't make you a we, it makes you a loser."

Xander just turned to her, his eyes devoid of humor even as he smiled down at her, "Oh that's right, Cordelia, you don't know what's going on, now a days, do you?" he raised began raising his hand and Buffy knew he was ready to show her just how much things had changed since Halloween. Normally she might enjoy the shock that something like that would cause the stuck up girl but they didn't have time today.

"Xander," she called out to get his attention. He turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing just slightly at her as she said, "We don't have time to waste on her, demon remember?"

Xander just nodded and said, "You're right Buffy, you're right. So trip to Giles?"

Buffy shook her head, "No, I'm gonna call him first, give him one last chance to come clean and tell him if he doesn't come here and start explaining, I'm going to let you come drag him out of there by the scruff of his neck."

Xander grinned at the prospect as Buffy left the room headed for the library.

Buffy ran into the library, intent on calling Giles, but she never made it as far as the phone when she heard something in the stacks. Slowly, and quietly she made her way up there, looking for whomever, or whatever might have caught her attention. Suddenly she looked up just in time to see someone pushing one of the stacks over on her.

With the agility that was her birth right she nimbly avoided the stack as it came crashing down and was over it and upon the person that had dumped it on her, spinning them around and finding…

The guy from the costume shop.

"Hey, I know you; you're the guy that sold me that dress for Halloween, the one that nearly got us all killed."

"Well I'm pleased you remember, and you look great, so what's the problem." he asked, arrogantly.

Buffy let loose with a punch to his jaw that nearly dropped the man where he stood, "So now we're even?" he asked, rubbing his jaw.

"I'll let you know when we're even. You did something to a friend of mine and he's never going to be the same, you know that right?"

"Ah yes the young man that went as the comic book character. How did that work out for him? Did Rupert call his precious Council and have them come to take the freak away in chains?"

Buffy looked shocked, "No of course he didn't Giles would never do that. Why would the Council do something like that, they're the good guys."

Ethan smiled at her as if she was a learning impaired child, "Of course they are my dear, and they'd never do anything to harm one of your friends. They're the good guys, just like you said."

Buffy looked at him darkly, disliking the condescension in his tone, "Never mind that, what are you doing here?"

"Snooping around." Ethan said simply.

"Honesty," Buffy said, shocked, "Nice touch."

"It's one of my virtues," Ethan said pleasantly, he smiled for a second and then the smile faltered as he seemed to consider his last statement and then said, "Well, not really."

"I have an idea," Buffy said, tired of this man already, "How about I call the cops and let them handle you, and I can get back to more important things."

Ethan smiled, "Ah yes, the police, they'll have all kinds of questions and they'll really need Rupert to answer them all. Particularly about Eyghon."

"How do you know about that?" Buffy demanded, "And what does it have to do with Giles."

Ethan gave the Slayer an unhealthy smile and said, "Oh my dear, Giles and I go way back."

Buffy looked at him, clear distrust in her face but finally she said, "Come on, we've got a phone call to make."

She grabbed Ethan and dragged him behind the counter and picked up the phone, calling Giles' number. It picked up after the tenth ring, and Buffy was almost heartbroken to hear the confusion and exhaustion in Giles' voice, "Hello?" he asked.

"Giles it's Buffy."

"Buffy," Giles began in irritation, "I told you last night that this is something I have to handle on my own, now unless this is an Emergency I'll see you on Monday." Buffy could hear the phone moving away from his head and thinking quickly she said, "Ethan Rayne says hi."

Giles voice was back in an instance, "What do you know about Ethan?" he asked urgently.

"I'm here with him now, Giles. He said he needs to see you and I thought that was pretty convenient since I need to see you too."

Immediately the Englishman's voice was alert and urgent as he said, "He's there with you now?"

"Yup," Buffy said, "Here and ready to tell me everything I want to know, even if I have to beat it out of him." Buffy saw Ethan smiling. Obviously enjoying whatever discomfort he imagined her words were having on Giles. However that smile vanished at her last statement, and the realization that he wasn't entirely sure the girl was bluffing.

"Buffy," Giles said, snapping her back from her glaring at Ethan, "I want you to listen to me very carefully. You're in terrible danger while Ethan is there. I want you to put down the phone and get as far from him as you can."

"No Giles," Buffy said, unable to believe what he was saying. Didn't he remember who she was, "I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers, either from him or you."

Suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass from somewhere in Giles office. Ethan turned towards the sound and then jumped behind her, shoving her slightly towards whatever it was coming through the apparent broken window. She took a moment to glare at him for his cowardice, and then turned back towards the direction the sound came from.

"Buffy!" she heard Giles urgent call, but she had already dropped the phone, falling into a defensive stance. Then around the corner came Mr. Larmey, the janitor. He was dead, she knew it, and yet here he was. It was daytime so he obviously wasn't a vampire, but it didn't matter, dead meant she had to defeat it, and protect Ethan, even if she really didn't want to.

She kicked Mr. Larmey in the chest backing him off, and then she jumped over the counter to give herself more room. Mr. Larmey turned towards her, obviously considering her a threat to his intentions and therefore needing to be removed first.

Buffy saw Ethan scramble over the counter and start towards the double doors of the library, just as Xander and the rest came through the same doors.

"Don't let him get away." Buffy shouted, as she turned her full attention back to her attacker.

Xander was standing behind Ms. Calendar as she searched the internet for any information any of her contacts might have on Eyghon, but she wasn't having much luck. "Might be too old," she had commented absentmindedly, as she continued her search. Xander moved back towards the door, earlier he had thought he heard something fall, but he had listened intently and hadn't heard anything else so he had let it go. Now he looked at his watch and said, "What's taking Buffy so long?"

"Well if she's not back yet, maybe that means she's getting Giles to talk," Willow said, "That's good, right?"

"Maybe Wills, I just…" He trailed off as his snapped around to the door and then Willow saw him take off at a full sprint out the door. She hesitated for only a moment, shocked at his sudden departure and then she was off right behind him.

Xander was sure this time, he had heard the sound of breaking glass and that couldn't be good. Inwardly he cursed himself as he neared the library. There was a sound he had probably heard earlier and he hadn't trusted himself enough to check it out. Buffy could be hurt or even… No, he wouldn't let himself think like that. She was fine he just needed to get to the library and fast.

He burst through the doors of the library and he heard Buffy call out to him, "Don't let him get away."

"Him" turned out to be the guy that had sold Xander the costume. He easily remembered the face and he took great delight in grabbing his shoulders and shoving him back. Xander felt the man try to twist Xander's weight to throw him off, but the man didn't have a chance of shifting Xander's five-hundred pounds from it's trajectory as he picked the man up slightly and slammed him up against the counter. Xander smiled down darkly at the man and said, "Hey there old pal, how ya doin'?"

Xander took no small amount of pleasure in the way the man shuddered at his dark grin. Xander looked up, to make sure that Buffy was ok and saw the unmistakable form of Mr. Larmey, trying to attack her. Well actually it was what was left of the man as the odor easily identified him as quite dead. Xander could have told that even without his enhanced senses.

It was obvious Buffy had the fight handled as he saw her look over her shoulder quickly at the book cage. He realized what she was doing even as she shifted her path slightly to line herself up with the door. The thing that now inhabited the old Janitor's body lunged at her and she dodged away with her speed and then slammed the door to the cage, trapping the zombie inside.

Xander turned his attention back to the man he was holding against the counter and said, "Now that the first part of today's entertainment is over, what shall we do with you?"

Xander saw Ethan gulp slightly and try to smile at the young man as he seemed to realize at that moment that Xander could, and more importantly would rip him to shreds. He suddenly felt like a small mouse in a cage with a hungry tiger and he didn't know why. All he did know is that he'd made it a long way by listening to his instincts and right now they were telling him to freeze.

Buffy had finally convinced Xander to move Ethan to a chair rather than bent backwards over the counter. She could tell that the position was playing havoc on the man's back and no matter what he had done, she didn't condone unnecessary cruelty so she had Xander back off and then ordered Ethan into the chair.

While Xander was standing over Ethan looking quite intimidating as he did Willow wandered over to the book cage. She looked at the ex-janitor and said, "I'm not gonna get close enough to check his pulse or anything, but I'm pretty sure he's dead."

"Except for the walking and attacking Buffy thing." Cordelia chimed in.

Ethan demonstrated a small amount of courage as he spoke up and said, "Oh he's dead alright." He then looked over at the cage occupant and said, "Sorry old chap, don't know who you are but still, better you than me."

Xander took a step towards the man, ready to slap him right out of the chair for the callous way he was treating the janitor's death. He never got the chance as Giles came bounding through the doors at that moment, his friend, Philip, right behind him.

"Is everyone alright?" he demanded even before he had stopped.

"Great," Cordelia said, "Xander beat up a guy."

Xander shrugged, "Hey, it got us out of the computer tutorial, right?" He looked over to the cage and said, "Been meaning to thank you for that." The dead janitor's answer was to growl angrily and slam his hands against the cage door.

Giles approached the cage, "It can't be."

"It is I'm afraid." Ethan said.

Giles shifted his look to Ethan and it was easy to see the change that came over him. Gone was the friendly, if sometimes befuddled librarian and something else was in its place.

Ethan smiled at him, "Hello Ripper."

Giles' eyes narrowed as he approached Ethan. Instinctively Xander got out of his way, not wanting that glare directed his way, even if he could take Giles now a days.

"I told you to leave town," Giles voice said, only slightly above freezing in its tone.

"You did, I didn't. Shop's lease is paid through to the end of the month."

"You have the gall to show up here, after what you did to this boy; do you have any idea what your little game is going to mean to him?"

Ethan just shrugged, "Well as long as the wrong people don't find out about it, he'll maybe be better off than the sniveling little child he was before."

"Why did he call him Ripper?" Cordelia asked Willow, who simply shrugged.

"You would know all about sniveling, wouldn't you?" Giles asked as he grabbed him by the back of the neck, Ethan's wince a testimony to the pressure being exerted as Giles pulled him out of the chair, "You should have left when I told you."

"Ohhhh." Cordelia said when she saw the calm viciousness behind the simple gesture.

"Giles!" Buffy said, moving towards her Watcher, but Xander rested his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head when she turned to him. She gave him a glare before turning back to watch the man she was beginning to think of as a father start to come apart right in front of her.

"You put these people's lives in danger, people I care about." Giles said angrily.

"If you cared about them so much why didn't you leave?" Ethan asked in mock innocence. He yanked Giles' hand away from him and shoved the arm away. "You know what's coming," he looked over at Philip, who till this moment was satisfied to simply stand off to the side glaring in pure hate at his former friend, "You both know what's coming. You're having the dreams, I know. So am I."

"Wait a minute, wait." Buffy finally interrupted her natural discomfort with not being in control forcing her to try and get answers once and for all, "What dreams? What's coming? Giles what is going on?"

"Tell her Ripper," Ethan said smugly, "Tell her or I will."

Anything Giles might have said was cut off as the thing formally a Sunnydale High School janitor burst free of the cage and surged forward. The door slammed into Ms. Calendar knocking her to the floor. Giles dove for her, not thinking of his safety as he saw the woman he cared for fall to the ground. Mr. Larmey saw an easy target and began to reach for the oblivious Giles. Philip, who had moved across the room while Giles and Ethan had their confrontation and had shoved Willow and Cordelia away when the cage door burst open grabbed a chair.

"Rupert!" he shouted as he slammed the chair down upon the back of the thing reaching for his friend.

Mr. Larmey stopped his motion and instead turned back to Philip, slapping him away in contemptuous ease with a back hand. By this time Buffy and Xander were both in motion, as the zombie attempted to punch Xander he blocked the punch, leaving the midsection exposed for Buffy to nail it with a perfectly executed side kick to the chest.

The force of the blow sent the zombie into the cage and to the ground. But after only a moment the thing started to climb back to its feet.

Giles watched in horror as two of his children fought a fight that should have been his. He didn't know what to do and that indecision was causing him to sit in paralyzed fear. He didn't want to leave Jenny unprotected, but he didn't want Buffy and Xander facing the thing alone.

His need to take action suddenly became moot as the zombie got to its feet then suddenly froze in place, its eyes widening in fear and almost pain, before it collapsed to the ground, dissolving into the same sticky green substance they had seen last night.

Almost unbeknownst to them all, some of it brushed against Jenny's hand and it twitched almost imperceptibly. Almost.

Xander saw the twitch and watched as Ms. Calendar slowly crawled to her feet.

"Ow," she said, as she did.

"Where's Ethan?" Buffy asked, glancing around for the wayward costume seller, and bad guy. Not seeing him she took off out the library doors, intent on tracking him down.

Willow and Cordelia helped Philip to his feet, carefully examining him to make sure he was alright.

All the while, as this activity was going on around him Xander stood totally motionless, processing everything his senses were telling him. Something was not right on the Hellmouth.

One of the first things he did when he realized how important his senses were going to become to him was to memorize the scent of every person that was even remotely important to him. Willow, Buffy, Giles, even Cordelia, Joyce, and yes Jenny.

He knew all their scents by heart, and right now his nose was telling him that something was very, very wrong with Jenny's scent.

As Giles pulled the dark haired teacher into an embrace, softly stroking her hair, Xander saw it, the flash in her eyes, a green color that he knew couldn't be normal.

Xander acted without thinking, "Giles get away from her," he said, even as he grabbed the teacher by her neck and arm and threw her away from them all.

"Xander what the hell are you doing?" Giles demanded, nearly attacking the young man in his anger.

"Something's wrong with her Giles. Her scent's off." Xander said, never taking his eyes off of the teacher that was slowly crawling to her feet. She turned back to them and her eyes glowed with the eerie green color Xander had seen just moments before.

"Well, well, well, Ripper," the thing inside Jenny said, "Looks like you've got a problem doesn't it?"

"Eyghon, let her go, it's me you want." Giles said as he tried to step forward, easily restrained by Xander's arm.

'Jenny' laughed, the sound unpleasant coming from its throat and said, "Oh no, I want you ALL Ripper. Two down, three to go." Eyghon began to back up towards the doors, "Be seeing ya." and with that it turned and sprinted towards the door, slamming Buffy aside easily as it caught the Slayer off guard.

Xander ran to check on Buffy even as Giles ran out of the library trying to follow Eyghon. His return only a moment later told them he'd failed.

His anger was plain to see as he stalked towards Xander, "Why did you stop me? I could have stopped it."

"How?" Xander demanded, as he helped Buffy to her feet, "By sacrificing yourself? And we're so sure that it would just give up Jenny's body once you committed that suicide? Nope, sorry Giles, that would have been a tactically stupid move as it would have meant losing our best source of information so we can defeat this thing."

Giles looked as if he wanted to say more but Xander didn't give him a chance, "It's done, and it's over with. Now we need to regroup and figure out what we're going to do."

Giles shoulders slumped, "Xander, I don't know how to stop it without killing Jenny."

"That's ok Giles; we'll figure it out together. Let's sit down and think this through." Xander and Buffy both put their arms around Giles shoulder as they walked the defeated man to the table, and into a chair.

Giles looked at Philip as he lowered himself into a chair next to him, "Will you help me Philip, please?"

Philip didn't even hesitate as he said, "Of course I will old friend. We owe it to Deidre, Thomas, and Randall if nothing else. Besides, I'll be saving my own skin as well, won't I?"

The two friends clasped arms for a moment before Giles turned to Xander and the others and said, "Let's get to work."

Hours later found the group neck deep in books. Giles and Philip had taken turns, telling the Scooby gang all about their trip to the dark side, and what it had cost them. How their friend, Randall, lost control and Eyghon took him over completely. How they desperately tried to save him but eventually were forced to kill him. They're separation after that, each going their separate ways, trying to bury the fear and shame at what they had done.

For Giles it was especially hard to go back with his tail between his legs to his father and beg him to get him back into Oxford, and the Watcher Training Program. His father had never been the same after that, as if sensing Giles brush with evil.

The Scoobies sat there in rap silence as they listened, finally Buffy asked, "So how do we stop it?"

Giles shrugged, "I don't know. Eyghon can only exist in our reality by possessing the dead or the unconscious. That's how it was able to get into Jenny. But we didn't perform the rituals to protect her; I have no idea how we're going to get it out of her."

Buffy stood, "Well while you guys are doing that I think I better find Ethan. After Eyghon finishes with him, he'll be after you two. If I can protect him I'll protect you."

As Buffy started for the door Giles called out, "Buffy, please."

She simply nodded to her Watcher and said, "I'll try not to hurt her Giles."

With that she was gone.

Xander sighed in frustration, it was an hour after Buffy's departure and they were still trying to figure out a way to save 'Jenny' as everyone was calling her now from Eyghon. The ticking clock was beginning to wear on everyone and finally Xander asked in only half seriousness, "What about a dead body? We could get it to jump into it." Xander asked.

Giles shook his head, "It would have no reason to do that. Even if we did we'd still have the problem of it being in this plane."

"Wait why can't we get it to jump into another body?" Cordelia asked, and then thought about it, "And let me tell you all that I blame all of you if I need therapy after this."

Xander smiled at her and turned to Willow, "Well genius, why can't we do that?"

Willow shrugged, "It's safe inside Jenny, and it won't leave her behind for a dead body because its energy breaks down the dead body quickly."

Giles nodded, "Where as in a living person it can manifest fully."

"So we need a way to get it to want to leave your friend then Rupert." Philip said.

"Right," Xander said, "and how do we do that?"

"Oh, OH, I got it. I got it." Willow said, suddenly jumping to her feet and heading for the door. She stopped just before she got to them and said, "Well come on slow pokes."

Xander laughed as he turned to Cordelia and said, "She's good."

As they began to move Giles and Philip both collapsed to the ground, disoriented.

Xander quickly moved to Giles side and asked, "Giles, what is it?"

"Ethan," Giles said in near panic, "He's going to give Buffy to Eyghon."

Xander began to growl low in his throat, the sound causing Cordelia and Philip to both back away from him.

"That's NOT going to happen," Xander said, his voice coming out in a throaty deep parody of its normally warm tone. He turned to Willow who nodded her head in understanding, "Go, Xander, GO!"

He was gone like a shot, bolting past Willow and out of the school. Heading at a full run towards the only logical place they could be, the costume shop.

Ethan smiled down at the bound form of the Slayer. He had been careful to bind her face down, with her arms wrapped around the table; it effectively eliminated any leverage she might gain to free herself. He had been able to quickly and easily give her the "Mark of Eyghon" tattoo at the base of her neck. He knew doing this that Giles would kill him if he ever got his hands on him. Well no matter. Once he was done here he was never coming back to this accursed town again, ever.

The boy was a real shock. Apparently Giles wasn't as stuffy as he had first thought. The Council would have surely wanted to know about something like the boy's new abilities. Giles however had kept them secret, apparently caring more about the boy than the Council. It was nice to know he wasn't a complete git after all. However that was just further proof that he needed to be out of town before Giles, or the boy, got their hands on him.

"Ethan," he heard the girl below him say, "You don't need to do this. We can fight Eyghon."

"No, Buffy, this is the way that works best for me. Now that you're marked, and I'm not," He held up his arm where he had used acid to burn the tattoo off of his arm, "I can go about my business. I do apologize but really I have to watch out for number one."

'SNIKT'

"You are so dead, you know that, right?" The sound and the voice caused Ethan to spin around and then freeze in place. It was the boy and he looked pissed, and by Chaos there were actually CLAWS coming out of the back of his hands. It was at that point that the Chaos mage remembered that part of the costume and realized that apparently the spell had gone better than he had thought…too bad for him.

Xander had snuck quietly into the shop as he heard Ethan jabbering on like a bad James Bond super villain. As he got into the shop and saw the state of Buffy, and realized exactly what Ethan was planning he couldn't help but pop his claws.

"You are so dead, you know that, right?" he asked with no humor in his voice. He took a step towards Ethan who looked like he wanted to try and run, but Buffy, Showing she was alright and more than a little pissed, shifted and used the flexibility only a Slayer could have to push Ethan towards Xander even with her ankles tied together. Xander took advantage of that moment to spring forward and lock one of his hands around Ethan's throat, and lift him right off the ground.

"You know," Xander said in a matter of fact voice, "its bad enough you cast that spell, and turned me into a freak. I've actually been able to turn it to my advantage. My dad's in rehab now. My mom's sober and actually acting like a mom for the first time I can remember. I've finally got a girl that I love and who loves me back. And I'm even able to help Buffy keep people I care about safe, as well as keep others safe from vampires, and I really REALLY hate vampires." Xander said as he shook Ethan slightly, and increased pressure on his neck, causing Ethan to start to gasp.

"Then you just had to push it and come back here," Ethan tried to speak but Xander didn't give him a chance, "Oh I know, I know you had to deal with this Eyghon thing. But you could have worked with us. But no, instead you try to sacrifice one of my best friends to cover your own ass."

He looked down at Buffy who pulled her hands from under the table; apparently she'd been working herself free the whole time. Xander smiled warmly at her and she smiled back as Xander then turned back to Ethan and pushed the man down to his knees and raised his claws.

"Xander!!" Buffy shouted, and grabbed his arm, "What are you doing?"

"He was going to kill you Buffy," Xander said simply as he glared down at Ethan, "Even before I turned into Wolverine I'd have killed him for that, human or not. Logan's even less forgiving than I am and I'm starting to realize that there's a lot more of him inside of me than just knowledge."

Buffy looked at him, concern in her eyes, "What do you mean?" she asked, still holding his arm.

"Ask Willow later." he said simply.

"Slayer you have to do something, you can't let him…erk" Ethan's plead was cut off before it was finished as Xander squeezed his throat harder.

"Shut up Ethan," Buffy said, "You're not helping." She focused again on Xander and said, "Xand, I know how you feel about him, I really do. I've got a brand new tattoo because of him. I know what he was going to do, but it was going to be done to me. Doesn't that mean that I should get to decide what happens to him?"

Xander thought about it for a second and finally said, "You want me to let him go, don't you?"

"Only because of what killing him would do to you Xand, please, don't do this, we don't kill humans." Buffy nearly had tears in her eyes, thinking about Xander becoming a killer for her. She couldn't live with that kind of guilt.

"No Buff, you don't kill humans, Logan does," Xander said simply.

"You're not Logan, you're Xander. Please don't kill him."

A sad look crossed Xander's face when she said he wasn't Logan. She just didn't understand that there was more of the mutant running around in his head than any of them first realized. Of course it didn't help Ethan's case that Xander was completely ok with the idea of killing, even humans, to keep his friends safe. What? Did Buffy forget his promise to her the night Willow and the others had been kidnapped?

Finally, after a few tense moments Xander popped his claws back in, "Fine," he said as he shifted his position quickly and kneeled next to a gasping coughing Ethan Rayne. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and forced him to look at Buffy, "This girl, that you were about to sacrifice just saved your miserable life. Think about that the next time you try something."

Xander was going to say more but a light at the front of the store caught his eye and he looked at the door as an eerie green light began to glow from outside. He saw a form approach the store and the door opened on its own and through it stepped Ms. Calendar, or actually through it stepped Eyghon in the teacher's body.

Xander's sharp eye was easily able to see the beginnings of the demon's manifestation from Jenny's body. Her ears were now misshaped, and her skin changing into some strange demonic form.

"It's your time," Eyghon said, its voice a deeper rumbling sound than it had been before. It looked at Ethan with something akin to hunger and satisfaction, before it sniffed the air. A puzzled look crossed its face for a moment before its eyes locked on Buffy and they flashed green.

Xander snapped up in front of it, "No way Eyghon, you don't get her except through me."

Eyghon looked at him and smiled for a second, "Ah how noble."

Eyghon stepped forward and Xander went to meet it, but his desire not to hurt the body of a friend caused him to hesitate, and that was all the time the demon needed to deliver its blow. Eyghon's hand flashed across Xander's throat and Xander grabbed it instinctively, feeling the blood draining from his now lacerated carotid artery.

"XANDER!" Buffy shouted as the demon shoved Xander aside with contempt.

"Eyghon!" a voice shouted.

The demon stopped in its approach of Buffy and turned to the door as Giles came through with Philip, Willow, and Cordelia right behind him.

"Take me instead," Giles said, "I'm the one you want."

Buffy sprang around to stop the demon from touching her Watcher, "No!" she said, but Eyghon extended its arm towards her and she was flung across the room.

Before anyone could react Eyghon grabbed Giles and flung him to the ground, standing over him it said, "I've been waiting a long time for this. You'll die knowing that I won't take you instead of your friends, but I'll take them to. Think on that while I rip you open."

It began to reach down towards Giles when Willow shouted, "NOW!!"

And then a dark figure burst through the door and grabbed Eyghon, throwing it off of Giles before it could react.

Angel locked his arms around the throat of Eyghon, and in so doing Jenny Calendar's as well and began to squeeze.

Giles leaped to his feet and tried to go to stop the vampire, "He's killing her!" he shouted, even as Willow grabbed his arm, "No, trust me this is going to work." She then caught sight of Xander collapsed on the ground, "Xander!"

She pulled him up and saw the massive amounts of blood on his neck and tears were already streaming from her eyes as she wiped it away, desperately trying to find the source. All she did find however was unblemished skin.

She remembered at that moment what Wolverine's real power was. It wasn't the claws, or the fighting, or any of that, it was the ability to heal fast. She didn't know what it was that had hurt Xander and she didn't care. All she cared about was knowing that he was going to be alright, she just knew it. She could feel his heart beating and she could tell he was breathing, she held him tight and waited for him to open his eyes.

So concerned for her boyfriend, Willow missed the battle between Eyghon and Angel as Eyghon jumped into Angel's body…just like Willow had planned.

Angel pitched back and forth, bouncing off the wall and one of the counters. His face morphed from his human one, to his 'Game' face and to a sick parody of Eyghon's. It was obviously a difficult battle as Angel's demon fought the invader to its territory and as Eyghon was finally banished from his body Angel collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Buffy rushed to his side and helped him to his feet, "Are you ok?"

Angel nodded, not quite able to speak yet and Buffy asked, "What happened?"

Angel took an unneeded breath to gain his balance and said, "I've had a demon in me for a couple hundred years, just waiting for a good fight."

"You knew if you put it in danger it would jump to the nearest dead body." She said in amazement.

Angel shook his head, "No, not me, Willow figured it out."

"Where is she anyway?" Buffy asked, and then suddenly she remembered Xander, "Oh my god, Xander."

She jumped towards where her friend was resting in Willow's lap, her eyes still streaming tears, but these weren't tears of sorrow Buffy could tell, but of relief.

The others crowded around and Giles asked, as he held Jenny tightly to him, "Willow, is he alright?"

She nodded, "There's so much blood Giles but he's going to be fine, there's not even a mark on him."

Buffy shuddered, "She cut his throat Giles." her voice unable to hold some of the anger that it held as she glared at Jenny.

"Oh gross," Cordelia shouted. She then thought about it for a second and looked at all the blood and finally put it all together, "Hey, you've still got those powers from Halloween."

Everyone just shook their heads at the young woman's seeming pathological inability to focus on the situation at hand.

Giles cleared his throat and said, "Yes Cordelia he does, now do, shut up." Cordelia looked like she was about to tear into him, but the glare Giles shot her way caused her to clam up and instead stalk away from them all. Giles turned back to his pissed off Slayer and said, "Buffy, it was Eyghon that attacked Xander, not Jenny."

Buffy still looked pissed as Jenny looked horrified and stuttered, "I didn't, I couldn't control…, Please Buffy I didn't."

"It's ok," a voice said from behind Buffy, and she spun to see Xander's eyes opened. He looked a little tired as he allowed Willow to help him to his feet, "It wasn't her Buffy. It was the demon," he looked at Angel and demanded, "Right?"

Angel nodded, "He's right, Buffy. No way Jenny could have fought that thing."

The words of her friends combined with Angel's seemed to calm the Slayer and her gaze softened, "Ok, fine." She looked around and said, "Where'd Ethan go?"

Everyone looked around and Philip said, "He must have run in the commotion, he always was one for covering his own ass."

"Damn, I was really looking forward to pounding him till he bled," Buffy commented almost sadly.

Giles pulled Jenny tighter, "Well if you'd all excuse me, I think I'm going to get her home," and with that he walked Jenny out of the shop. Everyone watched him go; wondering what was going to happen now, and no one having the courage to ask.

Monday, November 10, 1997

Sunnydale High

Morning

Things were back to relative normal on the Hellnouth; Rupert had put his friend back on a plane to England, with mutual promises to keep in touch. Cordelia was again not talking to any of them, not that any of them were complaining. All and all it was a happy trio of demon fighting teens that wandered the quad of Sunnydale High before classes.

"You know you scared the hell out of us Xander," Buffy said simply, slugging him in the shoulder as he did.

"You and me both Buff, getting your throat slashed hurts like hell, I can tell you," he answered back with one of his grins.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Willow asked as she shuddered, holding Xander's hand tighter.

"Ok," Buffy said, seeing how the talk about what could have happened, what in fact did happen, was bothering her friend, "Let's talk about the very important pair of shoes I was saving for that I can't buy now because I need to get this stupid tattoo removed."

Xander smiled and said, "If it were me Buff, I'd have the G-man pay for that. After all it was in the line of duty."

"Maybe you're right Xand, maybe you're right." They walked into the school and a thought occurred to Buffy, "By the way, Wills nice going on the whole 'Eyghon jumping into Angel' thing."

"Yeah Wills," Xander added, "You'd make a heck of a Watcher."

The redhead blushed under the praise, "Uh uh, no way, I couldn't handle it. I don't know how Giles does it and doesn't go crazy."

The three teens turned and watched the confrontation between Giles and Ms. Calendar. With their enhanced hearing both Buffy and Xander could hear the total brush off the teacher gave him. Obviously she was more than a little uncertain about him after what had happened to her.

"Are you ok?" Willow asked as the three teens approached the saddened Watcher.

"I don't think she'll ever forgive me. I'm not so sure she should." Giles said in answer.

"Maybe you should," Xander said, "You couldn't have known any of this was going to happen.

"Maybe not," Giles said, "But that doesn't excuse it," he looked up at the teenagers and said, "I never wanted anyone to see that side of me."

"I'll admit it was scary." Buffy said as she leaned next to him.

"Yeah," added Willow, "Here we thought you were an adult and all this time it turned out you're a person."

Giles smiled weakly, "Most are."

"Well then I guess that means we have something in common," Xander said, smiling at the Watcher.

"Enough of this brooding," Buffy said, "We're supposed to be training."

"That's right," Giles said, "You and Xander both need to work on your flexibility."

"And I've got just the music," Buffy said, smiling at her Watcher's frown, "Don't worry Giles, I brought you ear plugs."

"Oh how bloody thoughtful of you," he smiled back at her.

As they all approached the library, another thought occurred to Buffy and she turned to Xander, "Hey in all the excitement I almost forgot. What did you mean more of Logan was in you than we first thought."

Willow and Xander both stopped and looked at one another. Finally Willow said, "We should tell them Xand."

Xander thought about it for a second then nodded his head and started walking again. He looked at Buffy and Giles and started to explain as they entered the library.

"It was the night when your friend first got here Giles and Willow and I were on patrol…"


End file.
